Opposing Forces
by SoundofInsurrection
Summary: Semi-AU. Free of Hellsing control, Alucard leaves Seras & Walter in England to see to a potential threat in USA. What seems like an easy mission quickly gets complicated by unknown motives of Iscariot and the local vampire hierarchy. The Vampire King must reevaluate his plans as the lives and fates of two innocent humans caught in the crossfire fall to him to save or let perish.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

Encounter in an Alley

It was in the wee hours of Sunday evening, when Sunday technically Monday morning. More specifically, it was about 2:30am Monday morning.

A young woman named Mercedes Dreux-Brézé was walking from the bar she worked at in Center City of Philadelphia to the bus station a few miles over. She had just missed her usual bus down the street from the bar thanks to an extra-large mess that had needed picking up, courtesy of a bunch of drunken frat boys from the medical college.

Being the end of June, even this late in the evening, it was quite hot and humid. Especially as they were in the middle of a month long heat wave that seemed to know no relent. Mercedes was acclimated to much colder climes, being originally from the New England region of the country, and was quite sick of the heat already and wishing she didn't need to walk so far to catch the bus. As usual Mercedes had her iPod playing music, though the volume was kept low to be able to hear around her, to help herself unwind from yet another long night of work.

Mercedes was just turning onto a side street that would eventually bring her over to Market Street to catch the bus that would bring her close enough to home when she noticed she was being followed. She could hear several sets of footsteps echoing behind her and turned the volume down lower on her iPod to listen without acknowledging the others' presences.

The young woman could hear the voices of men, making crass jokes that were clearly aimed about her. As she was an empathic human, Mercedes could pick up that said licentious comments had an actual intent behind them. And their footsteps were slowly speeding up to shorten the distance between them and her.

Mercedes quickly calculated out in her mind that she wasn't going to be able to make it to Market Street safely at her current speed and by this route.

Without giving her followers any further time to gain distance on her, Mercedes took off at a sprint down the next side street she came across to try losing then. She saw from the corner of her brown eyes as she made the sharp turn that her pursuers were the drunken frat boys from the bar. And she could tell from the sure strides they were pursuing her at that they weren't nearly as drunk as they had seemed when they left the bar almost an hour earlier.

Mercedes came to the very obvious conclusion that they must have been waiting for her to get off her shift, perhaps making such a mess so she would get out of work late because she was one of the closing bartenders. They had been in the bar a handful of times; they might have even planned it out.

' _Merde, merde, merde merde, merde_!' Mercedes thought, looking for another bar to duck into or a police officer to shout to. Neither were to be found. All the bars, like the one she worked in, were closed this late. And for being late in the evening in Center City, middle of summer no less, there should have been police officers on bikes at least. The gods knew she usually saw two or three on her way home most nights. But tonight it seemed luck was not on her side.

Mercedes continued racing in a roundabout manner towards Market Street, taking various turns and side streets to try losing the frat boys who were still chasing after her. While two were falling behind, a couple most definitely looked to be jocks as well as med students and they were steadily gaining on her.

They were also shouting for her to stop running unless she wanted to make things worse for herself.

Fat chance of her stopping with that sort of option offered.

Unfortunately, Mercedes was beginning to feel winded. She knew that if she kept running, the college boys behind her would catch her anyway and she'd not have the stamina left to fight. And with the way they were gaining on her, she wasn't going to make it to the more populated area near Market Street.

When Mercedes passed a giant dumpster that had leftover wood from a renovation being done on the building next to it, she abruptly stopped in her tracks. She scanned the contents and pulled out a long wooden rod with one end broken. She gave it a quick twirl to test its balance and hit it against the ground to check its sturdiness. It passed both tests as best as could be expected.

Mercedes turned to face the direction her would-be attackers were approaching from, holding the fairly thick scrap wood like a staff.

"Turn around and leave or I will attack," Mercedes warned in a level voice as the first jock, a young man with a solid yet svelte frame like a swimmer or soccer player, turned the corner and approached.

He laughed in amusement. "Sweetheart, what do you think you're going to do with that little stick of yours?" The brunette frat boy pulled a switchblade out from his pants pocket. "How about you put that down, agree to play nice, and I'll give you a real piece of wood to hold?"

A blonde with a similar build was just turning the corner now and likewise approaching.

"This is your last warning. Back off!" Mercedes said furiously. "You get any closer and I will floor your ass."

The blonde was now laughing with the brunette. "Feisty," he commented, pulling a smaller knife of his own out from the pocket of his college logo sweatshirt. "But our thought was we'd be flooring your ass and then tapping it. Put the scrap wood down before you get hurt hunny."

The other two frat boys were now coming up behind the blonde.

As they arrived, the brown-haired jock was just stepping into strike range.

Mercedes darted out with the make-shift staff and landed a hard hit to the side of his face.

The frat boy dropped to the ground and his knife flew from his hand. He was obviously dazed, cheek and corner of his eye bleeding, cheekbone likely cracked, but he wasn't unconscious.

"You fucking bitch!" his blonde friend shouted and charged at Mercedes.

Mercedes, already a small woman to begin with, crouched down and landed a fast blow to his left knee. As her second attacker buckled, she was standing once more and jutted the other end, the non-broken end, of her staff up with the extra force of her standing momentum into the blonde's chin. The blow sent him stumbling backwards and he likewise dropped his knife in surprise.

The last two would-be-rapists were approaching slower now, realizing their quarry was not as defenseless as they initially thought. The two were unarmed, but were clearly still intent on attacking her.

Mercedes had hoped that seeing two out of four of them getting injured would deter them, but even their drunken minds didn't seem to process information as well as they should.

The brunette was trying to get to his feet, though he was stumbling and went to one knee half way up.

Mercedes took a few steps backwards as the two uninjured college boys approached together, angling herself so they couldn't try to flank her.

"Gather up your friends and leave or you'll be getting adjoining hospital beds," Mercedes warned the two.

"Like we're going to let you fucking walk away after what you just did to our friends," the first said furiously.

"We were going to play nice and you may have even liked it, you stupid bitch," the second said. "Now we're going to make sure you're screaming for every minute of it."

The second one came closest first.

Mercedes feinted a blow towards his head and then reversed the swing and slammed the end of her makeshift staff into his stomach as hard as she could. As he doubled over, she slammed the opposite end of the rod into the side of his face.

He dropped to the ground and he didn't move.

Mercedes didn't stop to wonder whether he was unconscious or dead. She had more pressing concerns at the moment.

The brunette was back on his feet now, as was the blonde, the latter had found his knife quickly enough. All three were once again approaching Mercedes, who was slowly backing away from them.

'Fucking dumb jocks take a beating and still won't back down,' Mercedes thought, starting to get concerned.

The one closest to her was waiting for his injured friends to catch up to him.

Mercedes instinctively knew that when that happened, they'd all rush her.

Sure enough, a few seconds later, all three men made a simultaneous run towards the bartender.

The fourth attacker, being uninjured and having the build of a body builder or football player, made it to her first.

When Mercedes swung for his head, she didn't pull the swing as a feint this time. He moved his left arm to block her staff, taking the hit to his wrist and there was a sickening crunch.

The jock let out a yell of pain and, before Mercedes could aim another attack, he grabbed her makeshift staff with his uninjured hand. The bulky jock may not have been as fast as his friends, but he was strong. Two swift jerks and he had the weapon out of her hands.

Mercedes backed up several steps quickly and glanced around for another weapon. With a weapon, she could handle multiple attackers. Without one… Mercedes knew that three men, even injured, against one unarmed female wasn't generally favorable odds.

And luck was not on her side again, as there was nothing in the immediate vicinity that would be of use.

' _Fou-le-camp! Oừ sont la police quand vous en avez besoin_?!' Mercedes thought in frustration, thoughts once again reverting back to French. The frat boys were all giving her unmistakably ominous looks and she had no doubts that their threats of doing more than raping her because she was fighting back was now most definitely on their agendas.

The jock that had disarmed her still had the wooden rod in his uninjured hand, though he didn't balance it with any seeming practice. Mercedes guessed the injured arm was his primary hand. Someone without martial arts training often made the mistake of blocking with their dominant hand by reflex from that being the one so often used for everything else.

While he may not have any formal training, Mercedes knew brute strength wielding a weapon could still do plenty damage.

The other two were beginning to close in on either side of the still retreating Mercedes, the blonde with the knife closer than the brunette with the head injury.

The body-builder jock attacked first. He took an awkward swing at Mercedes with the salvaged wood, putting his weight behind the swing but leaving himself off balance.

Rather than trying to disarm him, as he had already proven he was stronger, Mercedes ducked beneath the swing and grabbed the rod. Using his own momentum, the petite brunette was able to throw the jock behind her and managed to land a swift kick to his ribs before sending him flying to the ground.

Mercedes pivoted quickly and was just able to turn aside with a sweep of her left forearm a knife slash from the blonde that was meant for her chest. The young woman turned aside a follow up punch from his left hand with her right forearm and kicked him hard in the ribs. When he buckled over she was already kicking him in the face.

The blonde dropped to the ground again, his knife skittering over the pavement.

The brunette with the head injury, her first attacker, approached to attack again.

Before Mercedes could inflict further injury on him, the makeshift staff slammed into her ribs. The air was abruptly knocked out of her and she bent over in half from the pain and force of the blow.

She hadn't kept a close enough eye on the jock behind her.

A few seconds later the wood was against Mercedes's throat, being held with one uninjured hand and in the crook of the elbow of the injured arm, forcing her back upright. She grabbed the rod to keep from being choked, tugging it away from her throat as much as she could, which wasn't much.

"Got you now, bitch," the jock laughed from behind, though his voice was thick with pain.

The brunette laughed as well, seeing Mercedes struggling with his friend, and resumed his approach. He was eyeing the woman up and down, intent blatantly apparent.

When the would-be rapist came closer, Mercedes's grip on the wood tightened and she braced her back against the big jock behind herself. The brunette laughed, mistaking the action for Mercedes cowering away from him.

Once he was in range, Mercedes used her arm and ab strength to do a pull up on the rod being held so securely at her throat, simultaneously kicking off the ground. Her legs came up and she landed a hard kick with both feet, putting her full weight behind it, to the brunette's chest, causing him to stagger backwards.

As her feet came down, Mercedes used the momentum to flip the jock over her shoulder. The jock somehow managed to keep his one-handed grip on the makeshift staff, despite the surprise of the move. The rod was wrenched out of Mercedes's hands as he fell, keeping her without weapon.

"This _chienne_ isn't out yet, you _fils des salopes_ ," Mercedes swore furiously once free from restraint, the words coming out almost as a growl.

She stepped back quickly as the blonde staggered to his feet. Despite her words, the young woman was breathing heavily and her chest was radiating a great deal of pain. Between the injury and a long and tiring night at work, Mercedes really wasn't sure how much fight she had left in her.

"Neither are we, you fucking whore!" the blonde yelled as he stood, hand leaving his broken nose. "You really are going to pay out in every way we can think of now!" He started to approach again, albeit slower than before.

Mercedes jogged backwards to keep an eye on him. The brunette and jock were not far behind him, despite their injuries.

"And you should really learn to stay down," Mercedes replied heatedly, trying to stall for time to think and not liking any of the conclusions she was coming to. "The only one getting paid tonight will be the ferry man who brings souls to the underworld if you don't back off immediately."

"What do you think you're going to do?" the jock asked mockingly, waving the wooden rod in his hand. "Don't have your little stick anymore and your hits are pathetic without it."

The three frat boys in front of her suddenly stopped approaching and glanced at something behind the young woman.

Mercedes could hear heels from either boots or dress shoes approaching from behind. She likewise stopped her retreat.

' _Baiser ma vie_! Now I'm surrounded and I'm guessing this guy isn't even doing me the kindness of already being injured,' Mercedes thought sarcastically. She surmised she must have miscounted her pursuers and they had another friend that had circled around and was now approaching from behind. 'This night really is going to get messier than I wanted.'

Even though she couldn't place what it was, Mercedes was getting a feeling like the attacker behind her was going to be even more problematic than the others had been. Perhaps it was the fact he had held back to enter the fray until she was already injured by his friends, which showed a level of conniving forethought. While she didn't want to resort to her last means of defense, it was becoming undeniable that she wasn't going to have much of a choice if she wanted to survive through the night.

Before Mercedes could decide whether or not to take a glance behind her to assess this new attacker, a voice came from the direction of the one approaching from behind.

"It seems you children are attempting to play cat and mouse with a little mouse who can fight back," the darkly amused voice rumbled out. "Why don't you run along before another bite is taken from you?"

Mercedes wasn't sure if she should say a prayer of thanks, as it sounded like this new variable of a person seemed to be coming to her aid; or be concerned, as something in this man's faintly accented voice was setting off warning bells of every sort in her mind. The intuitive feeling of danger was becoming unmistakably more so.

"Who the hell do you think you are, you fucking faggot?" the blonde with the busted open chin and broken nose yelled at the new arrival. "Turn around and walk away now. This isn't any of your business."

"Damn right! This bitch attacked us and now she's got more than a little something coming to her," said the jock with the broken wrist.

"Hm… Doesn't seem smart for a lone woman to go picking a fight in the middle of the night with four men." The voice was decidedly mocking. "And as she was intelligent enough to give chase and then injure all four of you, even with two of you having been armed, I think that perhaps your version of events is a lie, little mewling tom cat. Collect the gutter trash you've left fallen behind you and leave now or you're not stepping foot out of this alley again."

Mercedes began to suspect the nature of the one behind her, but she didn't turn around to confirm that suspicion. He was still some several yards behind her from the sounds of it and she didn't want to take her eyes off the three in front of her and closer. She cautiously side stepped towards the building next to her, trying to catch her breath and slowly angling herself from directly between the two dangers to having them each on either side.

"Seriously, who the fuck do you think you are?" the blonde said, further incensed. "Get the fuck out of here! This isn't your business and unless you want your neck broken, you'll go back the way you came. There are three of us and only one of you."

Mercedes was now to one side of the alley, with her back still to the stranger and her eyes on her three attackers.

"Three of nothing is still nothing," the man behind her said, sardonic amusement still in his voice. "And what I see before me is even more insignificant than nothing. This is your last warning, foolish hormonal children, to retreat. I am not going to waste any more of my evening arguing with the likes of you. Fail to heed even your own survival instincts and you mangy broken tom cats are going to become fodder for the dogs, as that is all your base kind is good for."

Mercedes could sense a very distinct energy growing behind her as the new arrival spoke. Recognizing what type of energy that was, the young woman finally deemed it critical to her immediate survival to glance over at him. She shifted her own energy to aid in seeing another's as she turned her head.

What Mercedes saw was an incredibly tall, svelte man with short, shaggy ebony hair, long enough in the front to fall across his eyes. He was wearing a black fedora and wire-rimmed orange-tinted sunglasses; body clad in a sleek black suit and a crimson duster jacket. It was, in point of fact, a pair of highly-polished, knee-high, black riding boots worn with his dress pants neatly tucked into them that she had heard as he was walking.

And Mercedes could see, as the three men in the alley could not, at least not yet, that the man was gathering a dark shadowy energy around himself. She could just make out quick flashes of eyes and teeth in those writhing shadows and a crimson energy suffusing them like streams of blood flowing along a morass.

The new arrival noticed the direction of her attention changing and glanced at her from above the rim of his glasses.

Mercedes's now golden-iris eyes locked with fiery red eyes.

'A vampire… A vampire, who can summon hell hounds?' Mercedes thought to herself in shock as her suspicion was confirmed even beyond what she had sensed. She had certainly not expected this particular sort of rescuer. Not by a long shot.

As the blonde attacker shouted some refusal to back down, the vampire was still meeting Mercedes's gaze and raised a jet-black eyebrow a fraction.

Mercedes realized he heard her thought and immediately slammed up mental barriers against whatever telepathy he may possess.

The vampire smirked and then his hellfire gaze was back on the frat boys in front of him who were still not retreating. They were in fact approaching again, minds focused on their intended victim and more than willing to fight another if it meant accomplishing their ends.

"You did warn them," Mercedes said quietly.

The young woman was neither taking joy in the idea of what was about to happen, nor encouraging it, simply voicing she understood and the vampire didn't need to continue wasting his time in an attempt to be discreet in front of a potential witness. Although, if he killed her after feeding them to his dogs, a witness wouldn't be a problem. Mercedes could only hope he wasn't saving her from them to try to have a snack for himself.

The vampire gave a nod, understanding her meaning, and his smirk broadened on his ivory face to a malicious grin. One section of the shadows around him became the more corporeal form of a pitch-black hell hound in the space of the heartbeat.

The college boys stopped in their tracks, clearly not sure if they were seeing what they thought they were now seeing.

"Time for the tom cats to be reminded of nature's order," the vampire said with obvious blood-thirsty anticipation.

In the blink of an eye, the eight-eyed demonic familiar was racing towards the closest frat boy and leaping up to rip open his throat with its three rows of razor sharp teeth. The attacker-turned-victim didn't have time to scream before he was dead.

Mercedes turned her face away as the other two frat boys were quickly added to the body count. Her golden eyes once more met red eyes, the vampire watching her from where he still stood as his hell hound made short work of the attackers.

Mercedes could feel the wispy sensations of the unknown vampire making a subtle attempt to breech her mental defenses as their gazes met again. She kept her mental barriers in place against whatever mental tricks he was attempting, whether it was mind reading or mind control. Mercedes didn't really care which, she just wasn't going to give him the open opportunity to try.

The last yells that had become an unmistakable gurgle were now silent.

Mercedes could sense the hell hound slowly approaching from one side, its path towards her rather than its master. She glanced in the familiar's direction and saw all eight of its eyes fixed on her and its jaws opened slightly as though to bite. She looked back at the vampire who controlled the hound. She could see small streams of blood from the hound's victims moving unnaturally up the slight incline of the street and being absorbed into the vampire.

"Your familiar would find me far less digestible than those idiots. Do you intend to order him to attempt to eat me?" Mercedes asked quietly, trying to keep fear from her voice and failing.

"I was not intending you to be a meal for the hound," the vampire said, dark smirk not disappearing. "He is not the only entity prowling the streets and hungry."

"I don't think you'd find me terribly digestible either and you seem to have a meal already being delivered to you." Mercedes glanced meaningfully at the blood still flowing to the vampire. "I appreciate that you saved me from needing to further engage those men, and thank you for that, but I am walking out of this alley and I will do so in a manner of my own volition."

"This base refuse is hardly a fulfilling meal. Perhaps, however, if the little mouse answers my questions, I may deign it reasonable to look for other more satisfying prey."

Mercedes didn't feel the least reassured with the 'perhaps', 'if', and 'may', knowing from long experience that those could be very tricky words employed. The stalking familiar was only a dozen or so feet from her now.

Mercedes turned her gaze back to the hell hound. "Heel," she snapped the command out at the demonic dog and the gold of her eyes flared distinctly brighter as she allowed her own energy to rise more forcefully to the surface.

The familiar stopped its stalking and whimpered much like a mortal canine. Its ears tilted forward and it backed up a step.

Before Mercedes could turn her gaze back to its master, said vampire was in front of her with his hand around her throat, slamming her back against the wall.

"What did you just do to my hound?" the vampire demanded with a quiet rage, his own eyes flaring a much brighter red behind his glasses.

'I told him to heel.' Mercedes opened her thoughts just enough to answer him mentally, as the vampire was still probing her mind and his grip on her throat was not giving her enough air to breathe and speak.

As soon as she thought the answer, the young woman willed the enchanted barriers back up around her mind. She could feel the vampire slamming his own mind against her barriers now, his hand around her throat tightening. Mercedes was able to keep him from tearing his way into her mind for the time being, but she wasn't so sure she could continue to do so.

"You smell and appear human. But humans don't have golden eyes and they certainly don't possess the ability to countermand an order I give my familiars. What are you?!" the vampire furiously demanded.

Mercedes used her empathy to slam the emotional imprints of terror and horror at the vampire to stun him, while simultaneously shoving her own energy between his fingers in a small blaze of indigo light to release herself from his grip. As she dropped from his choke hold, there was a small flare of bright red eldritch light from around her neck that slammed itself into the vampire. An enchanted barrier to immobilize him.

Mercedes ran as fast as she could away; adrenaline and fear making her move far faster than when she had fled the would-be-rapists. She was no longer in a state of mind to care about discretion, not knowing how long the ward would hold and knowing she was too injured and unprepared to try fighting the foreign vampire.

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Alucard was able to break free of the enchantment, using his own energy to tear the magic apart, after just half a minute of effort. That was still 29 seconds of being incapacitated too long for his liking. His narrowed, fiery gaze was in the direction the young woman darted off in.

'Interesting little tricks… She is human, but the little mouse is an enchantress of some kind…'

The progenitor of vampires smirked slightly, intrigued curiosity flaring now alongside his anger at whatever it was she had done to his hell hound.

Said hound was back to behaving normally the moment the golden-eyed woman was out of sight. All eight hellfire eyes hungrily stared at the victims in the alley. The three whom it had ripped the throats out of, and the one the female had killed in the course of defending herself. Four freshly dead humans was quite the feast for the demonic familiar these days and it was anxious to eat while the corpses were still warm.

Alucard ignored his hell hound's impatient noises as it waited for permission to devour the bodies, however. He picked up the blood-speckled wooden rod the woman had left behind, sniffing it as it still had her scent from handling it beneath the stronger scents of her attackers' blood.

The young woman had a most alluring scent. Human blood coursed through those veins beneath such pale delicate skin, yes. But there was the scent of dark magic as well. A scent that was almost unnoticeable at first, until she had called up that energy.

Alucard was generally wary of magic using humans. This woman, however, was calling on forces of darkness, rather than holy forces. Most humans in this modern technology-fueled age did not even believe such powers existed. And the darker side of magic was not easily controlled by humans. Most all would-be-enchanters died in foolish attempts to tap into that dark and destructive power. The few humans the vampire had encountered who pursued tapping into ethereal power gravitated towards holy powers that came with significantly less risks.

This relatively young human recognized him as a vampire, was capable of keeping him out of her mind, stopped his hound in its tracks, and had managed to successfully immobilize him, even if only temporarily, with the skilled use of such tempestuous power.

Yet, she hadn't tried to kill him, despite her bold statements and obvious fearful desire to escape him. She hadn't unleashed her powers on her fellow humans, yet she had voiced understanding if he had his hounds consume her attackers. Nor did she seem repulsed by his consumption of their blood.

All of which was a puzzling rarity.

And she had escaped just now by catching him by surprise. In doing so, she had run off with his demanded questions being unanswered, in a fashion that created even further questions.

Being bested by a young human woman and not receiving those answers was a conclusion to this encounter that Alucard found to be entirely unacceptable.

The vampire finally turned his attention back to his familiar and gave the waiting hell hound permission to feast on the remains of the humans in the alleyway.

Still keeping the abandoned makeshift weapon in hand, and retrieving the dropped knives, Alucard followed behind the female, stalking the shadows as one himself before she could slip off too far ahead.

As he tracked her, the bus she had boarded passed over a bridge crossing a small river. Alucard dropped the staff bearing the human's fingerprints and the attacker's knives into the rushing waters as he flew across. With the attackers dead and their bodies consumed, most of the blood absorbed from the scene, and the weapons disposed of; the inept American police should find piecing together what happened to the humans impossible when their disappearances were reported.

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Mercedes arrived home an hour after her encounter with the frat boys and vampire. There had been no sign of pursuit, though she had been cautious none the less and transferred bus services a few times and took a longer time to get home than usual. She arrived at her apartment building shortly after 4am and quickly let herself in. As she unlocked the door to her apartment, Mercedes lowered her energy again, forcing her eye color to shift back to brown. When the young woman opened the door to her apartment, the babysitter snoozing in the reclining chair came awake and glanced at her wrist watch.

"You're home later than usual, sweetie," Geina said, then the old woman's dark eyes narrowed as she took in Mercedes's appearance. "And you are looking a bit peaky. What happened?"

"It took longer to close up than usual and I missed my bus. Some guys tried to follow me to the other stop, but I got away." Mercedes said the last with a shrug. "It's nothing to worry about, Miss Geina. I'm alright, as you can see, and I'm sorry for getting back so late."

"Why are you apologizing for something like that, Mercedes? I'm just glad you made it away alright, child," Geina said kindly, standing from the chair. "You really should find a better neighborhood to work in. That part of Center City is going to hell in a hand basket."

Mercedes snorted back a laugh in a rather indelicate manner. "You've no idea," she muttered as she tossed her jacket on the other chair in the living room. She said more seriously, and loudly enough to be heard, as she turned back around to face the baby sitter, "A job's a job, Miss Geina, and I need a job. Anyway, I'm fine. No worse for the wear. How was Xander tonight?"

"Fine, fine. We watched his bedtime movie and he fell asleep halfway through it," Geina said. "He's been out like a light since."

"I'm glad to hear it was a good night then," Mercedes said sincerely. She gave the babysitter a hug goodnight after the old woman slipped on her slippers. "Thanks, Miss Geina, for watching him."

"Psssh, Mercedes, you don't need to thank me every night," Geina said, swatting at the young woman's shoulder.

"I just want you to know I appreciate it is all," Mercedes said as she pulled a couple bills from her wallet to pay the sitter out of her tip money for the night.

"If I didn't think you appreciated it, I wouldn't bother. But I know you do, so you don't need to always say it child," Geina said. She noticed Mercedes's hand shaking slightly as she accepted the money. "You sure you're alright, Mercedes?"

"Yeah, I'm okay." Mercedes gave the old woman a reassuring smile. "Just a bit tired."

Geina shook her head. "Try to get some rest, and mayhaps look into finding a new job, sweetie. I know you need a job to support Xander, but he needs his mom most of all."

"I know and I got home safe and sound for him like I always do," Mercedes said. "Nothing short of divine intervention could keep me from doing so. And I'm trying to find a new job, but jobs are scarce these days."

"I hear that, sweetie," Geina said with a nod. "Just try to be safe on your way home and keep an eye out in case any of those men might be lurking about again. I know I say you need to take a night off to go on a date, but that's not what I had in mind."

Mercedes laughed quietly and shook her head. "I'll keep an eye out, Miss Geina. Don't worry about that. Thanks for caring." Though she knew that her original pursuers wouldn't be around to try to chase her down again, Mercedes was concerned about that foreign vampire possibly popping up on another night on her way home from work.

"Of course, child. I know how it is to be a young mother, even if it was all those years ago. You and Xander are nice neighbors to have and I don't want to be seeing anything bad happen to either of you."

Geina gave Mercedes another hug and then exited the apartment after Mercedes wished her a goodnight and told her she'd see her tomorrow evening.

Mercedes slid the locks shut on her door and breathed a small breath of relief to be home safely. She went to her son's room and peeked her head in to check on the sleeping five year old.

The room was not a perfect rectangle. There was a large walk-in closet that stood out from the left wall a way and her son's bed was tucked in the nook between the partial wall the closet made and the corner made by the far wall. There was a table along the rest of the back wall, stacked with Lego models and a flat screen computer monitor, the CPU tower tucked under the table. A bureau was against the right wall, and a long row of cubby/cubicles with storage bins for toys was against the wall the door was set in. The set up left the center of the room clear for Xander to play in.

Despite the bed being tucked away, Mercedes saw her son's little ebony haired head poking out from the pale blue comforter that he had tightly wrapped himself in because he was sleeping with his head facing the end of the bed. His oversized, green stuffed dragon was wrapped up with him, the boy using it like a body pillow.

Mercedes smiled and shook her head. Didn't matter what the weather was like or how he started off sleeping, the little guy always ended up wrapping himself up like a little burrito with his dragon and had his feet towards the head board.

Mercedes raised her energy again, eyes shifting to gold once more, and did a discreet scan of the apartment with her senses. After several seconds of careful scanning, the enchantress was satisfied all was as it should be and closed the door again, though she cautiously kept her energy raised to have the extra boost to her senses. It might have been paranoid, but it wouldn't be the first time she was followed home after being attacked and she didn't want to take any chances.

Mercedes went to the kitchen and, though she usually didn't like to drink alone, poured herself a double shot of Captain Morgan's and then mixed it up with Coca Cola. The bartender downed the glass in a couple swallows and poured another.

Her hands were shaking worse as the adrenaline rush she had been on before began to wear off and she realized just how lucky she was to make it out of the alley alive and whole. Her fear wasn't in regards to the four humans who had attacked her. Even without the vampire's help, she would have been able to handle them by less discreet means than physical fighting. No, her fear and realization were due to said foreign vampire who had more advanced dark powers than most vampires found locally. Had she reacted with less precision, hesitated more than she had, she could have found herself in dire straits.

Her torso was hurting worse than before as well with the lack of adrenaline and her mind finally recognized that she was indeed injured. Mercedes lifted her shirt and saw the beginnings of a gigantic bruise already forming and stretching across her ribs. She prodded the injury firmly, clenching her teeth against a yell of pain, and could ascertain that none of her ribs were broken, but she wouldn't be surprised if there was a hair line fracture.

"Bruised or cracked ribs certainly aren't the worst injury I've ever had to pick myself up from," Mercedes muttered wryly to herself in French. "I'll survive and call this lucky compared to how the night could've gone." She drank the second rum and coke down at a slightly slower rate but still close to chugging it. It took two more before the young woman's nerves were relaxed enough for her to stop shaking, dull some of the pain throbbing in her ribs, and calm her thoughts enough to possibly sleep.

Though she usually pulled out the bed from the pull out couch, Mercedes went into her son's room and snuggled up next to him and his stuffed dragon to sleep a few hours before he'd wake her for breakfast.

.

.

.

.

Alucard's shadowy form floated outside the apartment building, listening to the exchange between the old black woman and the young mother. He was carefully keeping his distance and making certain to force his energy down to a containable level to mask it from the enchantress. He heard the bedroom door open and then close a minute later. He shifted closer to her apartment windows and used his own psychic senses to watch her move about.

The vampire saw the young brunette drink down a glass of alcohol with shaking hands, inspecting her injury, drinking some more and then retreat back into the room her small son was in. He could hear her heart rate and breathing slow into sleeping patterns eventually and retreated back from the apartment for the time being.

'So, the tricky little mouse has a child. No wonder she was snapping so furiously to escape the alley, besides the obvious immediate threat to herself, even before I made my presence known…'

Alucard contemplated for a few minutes how to gain the answers he wanted.

Even in her sleep, the golden-eyed human was cautiously keeping her mind, and her son's, blocked from his senses somehow. He could always go in and drain her before she could try her tricks again, pulling answers from her blood as he did so. But then her son would be without its only parent.

He could always kill the child as well. Death would be a kinder fate than the notoriously horrific American foster care system.

The sire of vampires found the human's courage in the face of imminent danger to be commendable, however. Alucard decided he would first make an attempt to extract answers in a less fatal manner. He had other business in the city that was dominating most of his attention, but he decided he could spare some time to the endeavor as a diversion from the more serious matters.

Alucard pulled a cell phone from his pocket and dialed his manor.

"Good evening, Master Alucard," the English butler said upon answering the international call.

"Walter. Contact my hotel and plane and make arrangements for me to remain here in the States until Friday," Alucard instructed. "I still haven't discovered what the Catholic dogs are up to and my stay needs to be extended."

"Of course, Master," Walter said. "Will there be anything else?"

"No, that is all for now."

"I'll make the necessary calls first thing when business hours begin in the States, Master."

"Thank you." Alucard disconnected the call. He shifted his psychic sight to the building's entry way and took note of the surname listed on the mailbox for Mercedes's apartment number in case he needed it for later reference. That done, the progenitor of vampires left the apartment building for the time being, making his way back downtown for more pressing business that needed to be attended to.

A Singular Author's Note on the Alternate Timeline

To those readers of this fanfic,

This story deviates from Hellsing canon in that the group Millennium was truly destroyed in WWII. While I thoroughly enjoy Hirano san's work enough to delve into writing a fanfic, I just as thoroughly detest the character of the Major. I found the Major to be a rather pathetic excuse for an arch-enemy of Alucard, and his constant fapping to war speeches were immensely annoying. I've heard the arguments about The Major being a military genius, using his brain instead of his brawn, to try defeating Alucard with careful maneuvering of pawns; but the fact is he was a proxy for Hirano san as he imagined himself potentially defeating Alucard and was following The Rule of Cool to do so. While The Rule of Cool is fun in moderate doses, it lacks substance when that is all that makes up the story. As such, this story becomes an alternate timeline with consideration to how things might have gone if Millennium had been destroyed, yet the canon characters remained.

As for Millennium characters, some of them survived the destruction of the project, or came into an undead existence through other means, and will be making appearances throughout the arcs of this story. And there will be many arcs. At current time, I have over 200,000 words written, nearly wrapping up the first installment of the series. Who makes appearances, how, and the extent of their roles, I will not divulge; that would give away much of the story. But rest assured, besides the Major, many of your favorite Millennium survivors will have a place in this timeline.

As for Hellsing characters, I will give a brief synopsis of events to help people understand where this story in launching from.

With the destruction of Millennium, Walter never became a sleeper agent for the project. When Arthur died and left Integra as his heir, the events with her uncle took place as was canon. Alucard and Walter raised Integra to be a worthy leader of the Hellsing organization. Iscariot is still their greatest irritation and rivals when dealing with undead extermination, and Anderson is still Iscariot's greatest weapon. However, Alucard over time grew tired of being a puppet of Integra, for reasons that will be expounded on as the story progresses. Walter, though not an agent of Millennium, still had harbored fears of becoming useless in his old age. Alucard used that to his advantage, convincing Walter to turn on Integra to help free him from his service, and granted him a vampiric existence in return. Again, details will be divulged in the story.

As a result of being freed, Integra attempted to send Hellsing forces after Alucard, which obviously didn't end well. With the destruction of a huge section of Hellsing human soldiers, Alucard offered Integra a truce. Part of that was an agreement that he'd continue to help Hellsing's mission, but as a paid contractor, not as a forced servant. Integra hired the Wild Geese, led by Captain Bernodette, to help fill the ranks of Hellsing.

The incident in Cheddar happened mostly to canon, with Alucard turning Seras. For the story, it was just under ten years ago. This Seras is an older vampire than in the series, though still young when compared to Alucard. Therefore, you'll be seeing a more matured Seras who demonstrates her vampiric powers with more alacrity and acceptance, along with getting more chances to display those analytical and assertive skills she would have garnered as a police girl and were glossed over in the canon series. That said, she still gets flustered, especially when her Master is annoyed with her (cuz let's face it, Alucard is scary, no matter who you are or how strong you may be). She still has the excitable and sometimes child-like personality we all know from the series, complete with animated gestures and outbursts when she's especially pleased or annoyed by something. And for the Seras and Pip shippers, you'll be glad to know that those two developed a tempestuous but mostly functional relationship since her vampiric life and work with Hellsing began. She is frequently sent along with the Geese to handle undead problems.

Walter and Alucard tend to work solo or as a team, on missions Hellsing hires them for, or for aims that Alucard devises. Walter has become fairly indispensable to Alucard, and the friendship/respect we saw in canon is more genuine between the two, though there is still a hierarchy present. Walter in this story is a blend of the dutiful servant first seen in Hellsing, and Dark Walter when the occasion calls for the Angel of Death to deliver some wholesale slaughter alongside his master.

As for Alucard, I've tried my best to keep him in character for this story. He is still bloodthirsty, always ready for a fight, disdainful of those he views as beneath him, sometimes frustrated with Seras's on-going humanity struggles, and has a major hate-boner for Anderson. However, I'm also attempting to string together the stories of the historical Vlad Draculea, the fictional story of Dracula written by Stoker, and the Hellsing universe. The three characters, though supposedly the same man, are very different from one another in many ways, and I'd like to unravel a potential story as to how Alucard evolved into who and what he is in modern nights and show more dimensions to his character. As well as give him a far more worthy adversary to face throughout a story, besides the epic tank that is Anderson. (And Anderson will be plaguing him.)

With that said, there are Original Characters in this story.

*Watches 30% of my audience dash for the hills.* Well, now that those easily spooked have taken their leave, continuing on, shall we?

I have spent a great deal of time contemplating each of these characters and developing them. We'll be seeing some new faces in Iscariot alongside the old; new subordinates of Anderson's as Iscariot tries to eradicate the Vampire King and his servants. The Wild Geese have been fleshed out more, as will be seen after the first arc when this story moves out of the United States and back to England. And there's an American cast of characters. There's a group of old vampires, called the Elders, in charge of most vampires in America, with their own agendas and presence in the story. They have had their own conflicts with Iscariot over the last few centuries and, as they are in America, haven't had any direct contact with Hellsing or its allies before now. That's poised to change with these events.

The lead American characters are a human woman named Mercedes; her best friend and adopted sister named Val; Mercedes's son, Xander; and an Elder by the name of Liam. Yes, Mercedes is going to end up a love interest for Alucard…

*Watches another 25% of the remaining audience chase the first group. Coughs nervously.* Well, um… As I was saying…

Mercedes is a love interest for Alucard, *but* it is going to be extremely slow burn. They are very different people with extremely strong and stubborn personalities, and a great deal of past baggage, so theirs is a relationship that is very volatile and takes a great deal of time to form. As of chapter twenty-four (out of thirty-ish currently written), Mercedes and Alucard have finally, indirectly, admitted a mutual respect and tentative trust in the other as competent allies, and both are ignoring a sexual tension between them because of chaotic circumstances around their acquaintance with one another. Alucard is not suddenly going to turn over a wholesome new leaf and stop being the character we all know as he's developing feelings for her. Morbidly and indirectly affectionate after a great deal of trials and tribulations, and willing to make a few concessions in his own distinctly twisted way, yes. Fluffy Twi-tard-esque emo bastardization of a vampire who is begging forgiveness for his past behavior, fuck no. I think I'm fundamentally incapable of writing a fluffy character, never mind a fluffy Alucard. Not happening.

And finally on the subject of Mercedes, I fully realize some people are going to scream she is a Mary-Sue because I've presented a strong female lead with supernatural powers to help her. I honestly think it would be insulting to Alucard's character to try pairing him with a helpless damsel, an incompetent idiot, or someone who simply won't challenge him and is just there to please him and provide readers with gratuitous sex scenes. I also hate writing female leads like that, being a bit of a feminist and wanting women to be portrayed as equal forces to be reckoned with.

…And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the thundering of 50% of the people who had still been reading now fleeing, while 25% of the remaining start lighting the torches for flames… Wow… Tough crowd?! And thank you to the folks with the fire for providing me the means to make S'mores! Now sit back, remember which fandom we're dealing with, and let me finish!...

The Hellsing verse is rife with bad asses, including female ones, so I scaled her in a way I felt appropriate for the story. Despite her powers, which she sacrificed and worked her ass off for (as will be detailed as the story unfolds) and will not be increasing much from their current level as the story unfolds, Mercedes is human. She is human and her powers have distinct disadvantages and limitations, and she has many faults as well. Please keep in mind that when they meet, and for a long time after, Mercedes views Alucard as a potential threat, and then an uncertain ally. She's going to do everything she can to keep her flaws and weaknesses hidden from him, and thus you readers. It'd be potentially suicidal to do otherwise with an ally like Alucard. As the story plays out, her flaws will become apparent and have consequences, her past will bite her in the ass (I *hate* author-induced plot shields and I am more than willing to torture my own characters as the situation demands), and this is still Alucard's arena to be the uncontested badass of. He's going to insist after the first arc that Mercedes start training more pro-actively for honing her gifts, and convinces her to use them in some new ways for survival, but she's still stuck with a limited skill set.

Val is more than a side character, though she won't be seen much until after the first arc. The reason will be obvious as you read. She likewise has her own personality and gifts, as will likewise be revealed as she gets woven further into the story. I have some fun twists in mind for her and her character development. Xander is likewise seen only in small amounts for the first arc because all the interactions between Mercedes and Alucard happen at night, when the child is already asleep, but he will likewise get more page time after the first arc and is integral to certain plot points I have in mind for later arcs. I won't reveal much more about these two at this time, but they and Liam, like some others that appear in short scenes, will be developed more when it's appropriate to shift the spot light over to them.

I felt firmly establishing the groundwork of interactions between Mercedes and Alucard was important, as they're the heads of their two dysfunctional "families" and what's keeping this uneasy alliance together throughout the arcs. If this was only going to be a few chapters, I wouldn't bother with the character development and certain scenes that may seem like fluffy filler keeping you from the action. However, this is going to be a *very* long series, and there are so very many details that are important for what I have mapped out that the groundwork needs be placed. I never write and keep a scene after editing without having at least half a dozen reasons for doing so, I like layered plots. Never, ever, take something I have written at face value, or assume you've been told the full story after the first twist has been revealed. So be patient and you may just get mind-blown when all the pieces fall into place.

And that is my promise to you- Alucard will always be the uncontested badass, no Mary Sues will be allowed to invade this story, bad choices will eventually bite characters where the sun doesn't shine, and I write nothing without reason so don't take anything for granted. I make few other promises, however. Except to update as I can; probably weekly or bi-weekly so I don't burn through all the currently written chapters before I can write more, and end up not being able to keep readers happy if this story garners some fans.

For the 26.25% of those who decided to check out this fic and didn't run off (and dropped their torches!), thanks for bearing with the long Author's Note. Unless there's an overwhelming need to make a response publically due to many people saying/asking the same thing and not wanting to type the same answer dozens of times, or give credit to those who may go above and beyond on something related to the fic, I'll answer any questions, comments, quotes, quips and queries via PMs. Otherwise, this is the first and last time you folks will be hearing from me so as to keep the story focused on the characters and not clutter up the chapters or make it look like I'm trying to boost my word count.

So, with all that said, on to the rest of the entertainment. Please keep your hands, feet and head tucked in at all times because this is going to be a hell of a ride for those patient enough to tolerate the slow climb up the steep ramp leading to the first Death Drop plunge of this rollercoaster story.

…OH! A side note (and humble request) unrelated to my story:

After you read this chapter, scoot over to EZB and their amazing story- The Hellsing War Chronicles. I was honestly blown away by the story, especially given how fickle fanfiction can be, never mind when crossovers get involved. When I encounter such, I almost invariable dash behind my OVAs and don't return until a healthy dose of vampiric slaughter fortifies me for my next attempt at finding a few good fanfics to occupy me between my day job, parenting, and original fiction obligations. But EZB's work is a true gem on this site, it gets even better as EZB grew as a writer, and it's worth the time to read it all. So read it, make some noise, drag EZB's attention from TRtGF and the Gravity Falls fandom, and help me get EZB back over to us folks at Hellsing! EZB got a bit discouraged and distracted, then had lots of real life suck up time, and those who have (or will now) read HWC should show some love and get EZB past this writer's block so we can see the explosive culminations of the groundwork laid out!

*A seething mass of shadows appears behind SoI, and Alucard steps out from the demonic-infested darkness. He takes up position next to SoI, the both of them giving sanguine grins as she uses a megaphone to shout over to the Gravity Falls fandom- "EZB! As warned, I'm sending the fans and flames your way to light a fire under your ass so you'll post some new chapters! If that doesn't work, Alucard and I are coming over to cause mayhem and havoc in the Gravity Falls fandom so you have no choice but deal with him! Crackfics, bad OOC writing, and crossover fandom wars will ensue! And if THAT doesn't work…"

Alucard's hound manifests from the shadows and the eight eyed hound coughs up the secret weapon in front of SoI- a seemingly innocuous adamantine crate. The hound phases back to its own plane of existence and Soi gives the nod to Alucard to make himself scarce. Once he's safely out of sight, SoI shoves the crate until the door is pointed at EZB, eliciting squeaks from the unholy beasts inside.

Breathing heavily from the physical exertion, she shouts, "I will send chibi-fied Alucard fan girls to your doorstep to screech about how much they love their 'Alucard sama' and how big of a 'meanie-pants' you are for denying him his screen time. They'll never be shaken free or destroyed! You will have no peace from their wine glass-shattering cries of empty-headed infatuation, your home will never see an end to the glitter-makeup and Hot Topic cast-offs, until you provide them with their Alucard-fix and send them into a placated, giddy coma!"

Hand wipes sweat from brow and then hovers over the latch. "And that's not something either of us want after so much trouble was spent rounding these monstrosities up for the betterment of vampire fans everywhere! I don't want to unleash the horrors within, but you built up for him, and us, the anticipation of some EPIC fights that would surpass the other epic fights you've written, and provide some long-awaited answers, and we will do what it takes to get them! So do this the nice way, EZB, and no eardrums, fandoms, or sanity need be sacrificed! Do it the hard way, and it's on your head what comes next!"*


	2. Chapter 2 - An Introduction

Chapter Two

An Introduction

The next morning when her son woke her around 7am, the evening before seemed almost like a bad dream to Mercedes Dreux-Brézé. She grumbled playfully about getting up and tried not to wince at the pain radiating all throughout her torso from the hit she had taken.

Xander jumped on his mom, causing her to grunt in pain, and began tickling her.

Mercedes shifted so her son wasn't aggravating her injury, giggled as best as she could, and a full tickle fight ensued for a couple minutes.

Finally the sleepy mom disentangled herself from her rambunctious son and made her way to the kitchen to start the coffee and make his breakfast.

Just as Mercedes was handing her son his breakfast plate of eggs, sausages and toast; her cell phone rang.

"Heya, Val," Mercedes said, noting her best friend's name coming up on the cell.

"Hey, Mercedes! I saw something on the news this morning before I left for work and I wanted to let you know about it," Valarie's way-too-perky-for-7am voice came from the other end. Val wasn't much of a morning person either, but she got a full night's rest most nights and had likely already had her morning coffee.

"Oh? And what was that?" Mercedes asked absently.

"Apparently some college kids went missing last night."

Mercedes's hand, halfway to the coffee pot, froze as her mind went to the guys who tried to jump her the night before. Mercedes was glad Val continued talking at a fast rate, always one to elaborate on events of note if she had the information available, as it answered the next question she would have had and also covered for her not immediately responding.

"The guys go to the med school and their frat house isn't far from where you work. Their roommates said they were supposed to be going out for a bar crawl last night, then never came home. The police can't find any clues yet as to what happened to them."

"Ok, and?" Mercedes asked, trying to sound more wearied than concerned, or gods forbid guilty. "Couldn't this have waited until I woke up from my nap, Val?"

"Yeah, probably," Val conceded. "But I wanted to call you now while I was thinking about it because, like I said, I saw the frat house wasn't far from where you work and those guys were out drinking at bars. That neighborhood isn't the greatest to begin with and that made me worried. I wanted to make sure you were okay and let you know something had happened and you should be careful when you leave at night."

"Thanks, Chibi," Mercedes said the nickname with sincere affection, "I appreciate the concern."

"Yeah, of course, Mercedes," Val replied in good humor. "Gotta look out for the wifey and nephew."

"Indeed," Mercedes laughed a moment. "I don't know what we'd do without our Chibi."

"Have quieter and less crazy-making lives?" Val jested.

"You're the good kind of crazy-making," Mercedes said honestly. "Alright, well I've got some stuff to take care of and I'm sure you're probably almost to the bakery. Talk to you tonight before I head off to work?"

"Yep. Unless it's slow today, then I might call you in a bit once you're up from your nap."

"Sounds like a plan. Love you, Chibi."

"Someone's got to," Val quipped. "Love you too, Mercedes."

Mercedes hung up the phone, poured her coffee and sat down to drink it while her son ate. She considered what Val said, that the police had no leads on the disappearances. Which meant the vampire had undoubtedly allowed his hound to eat the bodies. At least that meant that the police would not have any evidence to connect her to the attack and start asking her questions. That was a relief, as she obviously couldn't give answers they'd believe. Nor did she really want to have to call her lawyer and have Davin pull his own specialized brand of tricks to get her out of potential man-slaughter charges.

The rest of the day passed without anything strange occurring. By the time Geina showed up in the evening to watch Xander, Mercedes had almost convinced herself that the night before was behind her and she could stop worrying about what had happened with both attackers. The frat boys hadn't survived and she had managed to escape the unknown vampire successfully. She tossed her waist-length, wavy brown hair up into a high ponytail and let some stray strands fall down either side of her face, a style reminiscent of 'I Dream of Genie' which she had picked up from belly dancer friends of hers to keep their hair out of their faces and mostly off their necks while dancing.

Her standard ankle-length skirt (black tonight), jet-black opaque tights, a bell-sleeved middle-eastern styled shirt (forest green with dusky pink and gold paisley), black flat-heeled knee-high boots, and her lightweight black duster completed the standard 'summer work outfit' she wore. She also wore an underbust corset tonight over the shirt, laced tight enough to help support her aching torso, but not tight enough to crush her ribs in. She had a slender enough figure that she didn't need to buy corsets for the purpose of appearing smaller and could wear the corset laced almost fully without it being overly painful or risking too much constriction to her oxygen intake.

Mercedes was scheduled to start work a little later this evening, so she had been able to put Xander to bed herself. She exchanged a few words with Geina and then left to go to the bar.

As the building's front door closed behind her, Mercedes lit a cigarette and walked to the bus stop. While she waited for the bus, enjoying her short nicotine break before the hectic work night commenced, she suddenly had the tickling intuitive feeling of being watched. A rather uncomfortable feeling to be having because her intuition was almost never wrong.

Mercedes shifted her energy and extended out her psychic senses to probe the immediate vicinity to see if there were others around, as she appeared to be the only person at the bus stop right now. Mercedes thought she caught the trace of another's energy as she scanned outward. But when she redirected her senses back in that direction after almost passing it over, whatever Mercedes may have been picking up on was gone beyond how far her senses could reach.

The more relaxed feeling she had been having was popped like a soap bubble and Mercedes was back to reality that something supernatural and dangerous had taken place last night. Even if nothing had been there- perhaps she had sensed something wrong or it was her overactive imagination after her scare last night- she couldn't go dropping her guard with regular threats like muggers always lurking in a city and then an unknown vampire hunting around her work's neighborhood.

Mercedes made it to work without any other strange feelings. Repeated scans of the area her whole way from the bus stop to the bar had not indicated the vampire from last night in the area anymore.

'Well good. He had a strange mixed accent, definitely not from around here. I've certainly never seen him around the city before or picked up on traces of him. With any luck he was only passing through, not planning on making Philly his new haunt, and there won't be any more run-ins.'

Mercedes wasn't going to get her hopes up quite yet, as she had learned from hard experience that such a thing could lead to disaster. Mercedes did not have a normal life most of the time, even when there were no random vampires crossing her path, but she was hopeful that perhaps there'd be no repeat incidents of this particular brand of problematic.

The other two weekday bartenders were there, along with the usual Monday crowd. They had the normal steady stream of random people coming in off the street as well. Mercedes and the other two full time bartenders, Tony and CJ, slipped into the usual routine and were kept busy pouring, stirring, and shaking drinks all night and trading jests with the regulars during short lulls in serving.

People got intoxicated, played billiards, chatted with their friends and watched the giant flat screen TVs above the bar. Some flirted with other patrons- sometimes getting lucky and hitting it off with their interest, sometimes striking out worse than the Yankees had during their last game with the Red Sox. A game that had made Mercedes cheer, being a born and raised New Englander. She didn't follow sports much, but it was the principle of the matter.

During lulls in the drink making, Mercedes would belly dance behind the bar to rock music, as being the resident "Bellydancing Bartender" was a part of the gimmick she employed to help get tips and keep her job. Her dances tonight were more on the slower sensual side rather than a faster more energetic pace to accommodate the corset and injury she was sporting.

More kegs were dragged from the back and put on tap. More bottles of alcohol were pulled from the cases. More drinks were made and, most importantly to the single mom, more tips were made.

It was just after midnight when Mercedes's normal routine was thrown entirely off its rotation. She had just crouched down to check one of the cabinets beneath the call shelves for a spare bottle of Bacardi when she overheard an exchange between Tony and a patron at the bar.

"Can I help you, sir?" Tony asked pleasantly, shaking his head slightly to shift his spiky red bangs out of his face.

"I would like a glass of red wine," an all too memorable voice said smoothly. "The Merlot that brunette bartender's hand is near would be preferable."

Mercedes froze where she was crouched, almost hoping if she didn't turn around, the vampire would disappear. It was an exercise in futility, and she rationally knew it, but a girl could hope.

"Yeah, sure thing," Tony said and turned around. "Hey, Mercedes. While you're down there getting the Bacardi, can you grab a bottle of the special reserve Merlot?"

"Sure, Tony," Mercedes replied. They didn't serve wine often in a bar like this, so the reds, especially the expensive ones, were kept beneath the counter or out back and out of the way.

Mercedes steeled her nerves, grabbed both bottles of alcohol and turned around. She intentionally kept from glancing at the vampire with her currently brown eyes as she handed Tony the bottle of wine and she walked to her station at the middle of the bar to make the round of drinks a small party had already ordered. Out the corner of her eye Mercedes could see the vampire accept his drink and give Tony a generous tip. He carried it to the far corner of the bar and sat at a table against the wall where he had a view of the bar itself and its bartenders.

Mercedes resolutely ignored her vampire stalker and kept her mental barriers raised as she continued to work, waiting to see if he would give some indication of his intentions for showing up at her work. To her surprise, the vampire made no attempts to breech her mental defenses as he had the night before. That didn't change Mercedes's determination to keep her mind sealed more securely than Fort Knox and the White House combined.

A short time later, when the vampire had finished his first glass of wine, he came back to the bar. This time he made a point to wait until Tony and CJ were both busy with large orders. The vampire stood near where Mercedes was currently finishing mixing a single drink ordered and couldn't ignore him without being unprofessional and risking making a scene.

Mercedes gritted her teeth and handed the drink she just finished to its buyer, accepting the payment and tip, tucking the former into the register and the latter into her tips jar beneath the counter. That done, Mercedes finally did the inevitable and turned towards the vampire, who was dressed identical to the night before, orange-tinted glasses and all.

"Would you like a refill of your wine, sir?" Mercedes asked with the universal 'I've got an asshole customer to deal with but must be a perfect picture of politeness' tone all people in the service industry knew and used.

The vampire smirked, obviously recognizing the tone all too well. "Yes, actually I would. Thank you, Mercedes."

Mercedes's eyes narrowed slightly on the vampire when he said her name, but she took the dirty glass he left on the bar, placed it on a tray the dish washer would collect and filled a new glass for him. "Your drink," she said stoically, placing the wine glass on the bar for him.

The vampire left his payment and the tip on the bar, not making an attempt to say anything further, and then went back to the table he had been sitting at.

Mercedes ignored the vampire's presence with a pointed intensity, refusing to so much as glance in his direction, seen as where he was apparently content to toy with her by just making his presence known.

'Ya know,' Mercedes thought to herself a short time later as she was going to the storage room between two sets of call shelves to retrieve some more SoCo. She made sure her mental barriers were still well in place so her thoughts remained private as the vampire was still sitting comfortably (and rather smugly, from his smirk) at his table. 'Darcy and Val are always saying the world would fall to pieces if I had a calm and quiet season as it seems to be against the natural order of my life. Nothing disruptive has happened in the last few months so I should have known something like this was on the horizon. Leave it to my fucked up life to end up with another vampire stalker!"

It was a clear sign Mercedes was truly upset as she was swearing, even if only in her thoughts. She generally didn't swear often.

She knew calling the police wouldn't help as her stalker was a vampire. Mercedes had known a number of vampires over the years. Some of those she had encountered were reasonably pleasant people to get along with and she considered a few to be dear friends close to being family. But she also knew that, as witnessed last night, not all vampires were sociable with the humans that were their inherent source of food and a vampire had a few advantages over Philly PD should they decide to be aggressive.

This foreign vampire was as quick as lightning, had mental powers, could control the flow of the blood (likely through telekinesis) and could summon familiars. And if he could do all that, he probably had other powers inherent to vampires that she hadn't seen him use during their brief exchange. He clearly wasn't one of the younger vampires who barely had an idea of what they were and even less control over the powers bestowed to them. Mercedes knew the police wouldn't be able to catch the foreign vampire if they tried, never mind hold him under arrest.

As Mercedes went about her work, she was actually considering calling Liam to see if he knew through the undead grape vine who this new entity was and could come to the bar to handle the situation for her. She hated asking for favors, but she was injured, she had already had one close call with this foreign vampire, and his continued presence in her bar without explanation was unnerving. If anyone would know who her stalker was, and could handle the threat this foreign vampire posed, it would be Liam.

When her vampire stalker was still in the bar close to one o' clock and still not giving indication of why he was present, Mercedes decided that calling Liam would be a good idea. No, make that a very good idea. The bar closed in an hour and she did not want the unknown vampire following her home like a hell-fanged puppy dog or attacking her once she was alone.

Mercedes asked Tony to cover her for five and went to the employee room to have a quick cigarette and make the call. The young woman quickly placed an enchanted blue-violet barrier around the room and retrieved her cigarettes and phone. She had Liam as the first in her cell's quick contact list and dialed the number as she lit her cigarette.

The phone rang and rang.

'Of course!' Mercedes thought with frustration. 'Of all the nights it could happen, tonight would be a night he's not answering the phone! What is with my luck the last 24hours?! Liam, please, answer your damned phone!"

The voicemail picked up instead.

Mercedes mentally cursed. Liam was more than a bit of a social butterfly. Her best friend, Val, had once joking described the vampire as a 'connoisseur of women who always had an eye out for a new vintage'. Social habits as they were, Liam was usually home Monday nights, and he hadn't mentioned having any plans tonight when they last saw each other a few nights ago.

Mercedes left a brief message asking Liam to call her back as soon as he got her message. She let him know it was important, but left no details in case he had company when he listened to the message.

Mercedes went back out to the bar, in an even more agitated mood than before. Though she technically wasn't supposed to, she kept her phone on her so she could pick up as soon as Liam called her back. She knew her fellow coworkers would forgive her for darting off to answer a call because she almost never did so, the exceptions being the rare occasions Geina would call because Xander was sick and had gotten worse while she was at work.

At one-thirty when it was time for 'last call', there was still no call back from Liam. Liam was the Elder vampire who personally oversaw this part of the country and was in high standing among the other Elders. Regardless of his pursuits for amusement or mundane business, he made it a point to have his cell phone with him should some emergency arise and the person needing to reach him was not a vampire with telepathic abilities. Even if Liam was in the middle of some form of entertainment in another room, his keen hearing would pick up on the phone ringing and he could use his psychic sight to note who was calling without halting the activity to do so.

And to date, in the four years Mercedes had known him- even when preoccupied in one fashion or other, and even when they had disagreements that caused them not to talk as frequently- Liam had never ignored a call from her, regardless of the importance behind her reason for calling. If the Elder vampire for some reason didn't answer when Mercedes called, he had always returned the call within minutes, even if he was in the middle of actual business and could only stay on the phone for a brief exchange. Mercedes wasn't sure why Liam hadn't returned her call by now, but she was hoping she would hear from him soon.

Her vampire stalker came over to the bar for one last glass of wine, making sure once again to finagle it that she would be the one to logistically need to take his order.

"Another glass of wine, sir?" Mercedes asked with a slight bit less politeness than before.

"Yes, thank you," the vampire said. Before she could turn around, he added, "Also, Mercedes, I was wondering if you'd allow me to see you home safely tonight to avoid any potential repeats of the incident you were misfortunately in when we met last night."

"I can see myself home, thank you," Mercedes replied quietly to avoid others overhearing. "I doubt I will be in need of your assistance two nights in a row. Besides, I hardly live in walking distance and I'm sure you have more productive things you could be doing with your time."

"Not within walking distance?" the vampire asked with a smirk. "That is entirely subjective to one's opinion of what is within walking distance given time constraints. As you know, I have a rather distinct abundance of time. I am certain I could spare a short while to safely see a lady home, especially when she's already been injured once, otherwise I would not have made the offer."

"A proper lady does not wander around a city at night, alone and with a man she does not know," Mercedes replied with an edge to her voice, already tiring of this game.

"Etiquette is a thing that should be followed, even if modern times often ignore such protocol. Allow me to introduce myself. I am called Alucard." The vampire tipped his hat to Mercedes with a touch of his pale fingers to the brim.

Mercedes could feel the blood drain from her cheeks, knowing that name and being hit with an icy dread.

The vampire was continuing the introduction, "And you are Mercedes. Now that we have been introduced on a first name basis, I am requesting that you allow me to see you safely home."

"You don't know how to take a hint, do you?" Mercedes managed to find the courage to ask, though more than a bit of her concern was leaking into her voice now.

This night was just getting worse and worse and Mercedes was trying desperately to not have this go down a route that was looking inevitable at this point. As she hadn't heard back from Liam, there was no aid coming from the one angle that might be useful. Given who her stalker was naming himself as, and she had a distinct feeling he was being honest in that claim from what little she had observed of him, she wasn't sure now if even Liam would be able to diffuse the situation.

"I believe I took your hint on etiquette well enough," Alucard replied smoothly. He shifted his head so he could look at her with his fiery red eyes from above the rim of his glasses and his smirk widened enough to show the tip of a sharp canine for a moment. "And as I have offered to see you safely home, accepting the offer includes amnesty from any harm from myself as well."

"And should I refuse?" Mercedes asked, not feeling the least bit at ease with the supposed reassurance.

"Then I will see you here tomorrow evening as well, even earlier than tonight, and repeat my request," Alucard replied candidly. "Except tomorrow night there will be no clause of being safe during the walk home. I am only requesting a short span of your time as I have a few questions for you. I intend to have those answers one way or other. I don't often go about doing so in the manner I've extended to you, so I would suggest you accept the offer because it will expire after your next response."

Mercedes gave the vampire a glare as he made the not so subtle threat. She fully believed he'd show up again tomorrow night, or do worse before then, if it meant getting what he wanted.

Alucard smirked as the human glared at him, waiting for her answer.

Mercedes sighed in defeat. "Alright, you win, Alucard. You may see me home and I'll answer whatever questions you are so intent on asking. I realize it doesn't make a difference whether you have an invite or not, but you are most definitely not welcome in my home and after you leave my doorstep, I expect not to see you again." She stated the last firmly, trying to keep the growing unease from her voice.

Alucard gave another pointy teeth revealing smirk. "While you're hardly in a position to be negotiating terms, that sounds mutually agreeable."

Nope. Mercedes could tell she hadn't fooled him with the brave front, even if he couldn't read her mind right now. She quickly refilled his wine and a few other drinks for last call.


	3. Chapter 3 Questions Answered

Chapter Three

Questions Answered Bring More Questions

As two o' clock drew closer, Liam still had not returned Mercedes's phone call or simply shown up at the bar in response to receiving the message.

With a resigned sigh Mercedes helped Tony and CJ clean up the bar, restock the shelves, and shoo patrons out when two o' clock hit.

Mercedes informed the other two bartenders the gentleman in the suit was an acquaintance escorting her home and Alucard was permitted to wait inside while the bartenders finished the evening routine. CJ offered to let her duck out early. Neither of her coworkers had ever seen Mercedes have a guy they didn't already know from her relatively short list of friends waiting around to see her home and were willing to cut her some slack.

Mercedes insisted on doing her share of the work, putting off dealing with Alucard as long as possible and hoping Liam would provide a last minute rescue. She was far more sedate than usual during clean up, between her obvious source of displeasure with her vampiric stalker and her still aching torso, and wasn't feeling inclined to dance along to music as she usually would while they prepared to close. As she had pointed out to her coworkers that said man would be seeing her home, they would now have his appearance in mind and she hoped that would help dissuade him from possible making her a missing person's report for tomorrow's morning news.

Or she may have inadvertently added to the body count, Mercedes realized as she second guessed the decision.

She checked her phone again as she went out back to grab her jacket and purse. She was disappointed to find that Liam had still not called her back. He had never taken so long to return a call before. She could only guess that perhaps his cell phone had been left somewhere he was currently not, an incident even the most responsible could make, and therefore he wasn't aware of the call. Either that, or something had happened to Liam himself, though she strongly doubted that possibility.

Mercedes tried calling Liam a second time, just in case he was now in hearing range of his cell and had simply somehow missed the first call, and again got no answer. She left another quick message, this time with as calm and abbreviated a telling as she could manage of what took place last night and tonight. Just in case she did go missing, Mercedes wanted someone with inside knowledge in such matters to know what had happened. Given who her stalker was and the looming threat he posed on this travel home, she realized there was little Liam would be able to do after the fact. But, at least, it wouldn't be an unsolved case and the single mom knew she could trust the Elder to make certain her son was not possibly resigned to the temporary care of the foster system should she go missing and authorities need sort out where the boy belonged.

With another resigned sigh Mercedes left the employee room. She said goodnight to CJ and Tony and walked over to the vampire.

Alucard gave a nod of his head as she approached and opened the door for her.

"Thank you," Mercedes said without glancing in his direction.

"You're welcome," the vampire replied.

When they were a short distance from the bar, walking along the main roads to get to Market Street, Mercedes finally decided to break the silence that had fallen. Her reasoning was quite simple. Mercedes wanted to make sure she answered all of Alucard's questions, whatever they were, so that she could get rid of him as fast as possible.

"So, Alucard…" Mercedes began.

Alucard glanced down at her and nodded for her to continue speaking.

Mercedes couldn't help but notice that the vampire was ridiculously tall compared to her own 5' 4". Even with the couple inch wedge heels of her boots, she barely came up level to his chest. She switched what she going to say, however, to ask a question of her own.

"If you wouldn't mind, would you please remove the glasses when we're not around others besides in passing, as we are right now? I prefer to be able to see a person when speaking to them."

Alucard chuckled in genuine amusement at her words. "I am not certain if you are a very brave woman for requesting to the ability to look me in the eyes directly," he said as he removed the glasses and tucked them into a pocket of his jacket, "or a very foolish one."

"You are free to make whatever judgments you would like on that," Mercedes said impassively. She glanced up at the vampire and met his red-tinged gaze as they walked towards the main bus line, making a silent point that she wasn't afraid to do so. Even if she really was afraid of the vampire himself, she wasn't going to make it that obvious. "So, Alucard, you said you had some questions to ask me that necessitated this escorted walk home?"

"Yes, I do," Alucard agreed, voice serious once more. "The first happens to likewise be on the subject of eyes. Last night, your eyes were quite clearly a golden hue, though tonight they are brown. Why?"

"It is a side effect of drawing on my own power," Mercedes answered briefly. This wasn't the first time she had to answer that question when someone (more often than not, vampires) caught sight of the change. "Just as you have your own side effects from your own state of being. Though, as you noticed, I am human."

"What is the source of your power then?" Alucard asked.

His voice revealed nothing to Mercedes of his motivations in asking this line of questions. It was her turn to smirk, though. The young woman looked up to meet the vampire's fiery gaze, gold flashing in her eyes as she shifted her energy.

"My source, progenitor of vampires, is the same as yours," Mercedes answered with complete honesty, allowing her instincts to guide the answer. "The only difference is that I gained mine through a very different means, with a very different intent in acquiring it, and it therefore had a very different result."

Alucard raised an eyebrow as the human indicated she knew exactly who he was. "Is that so?"

"If you knew me at all, you would know I never tell a falsehood," Mercedes replied, smirk remaining. "I may refuse to answer a question, or only partially answer one, but I do not ever lie."

"What did you do to my hound last night?"

"I answered that question already," Mercedes said. "I told him to heel. He obeyed."

"Why?"

"Again, my source of power is the same as yours. Your hound, or even hounds should you summon more, know better than to bite their own. Even if I am a different and less malevolent branch of the dark powers family than you."

Alucard glanced down at the human next to him for a moment, a flash of anger expressed by the hellfire flaring brighter in his eyes before dying back down.

Mercedes was looking away for the moment, but the empath could sense that flash of anger even if she hadn't seen it.

"My hounds have eaten humans and vampires alike, without so much as hesitating even once at the order," Alucard's voice was perfectly impassive when he replied. "So what exactly does that mean about your powers?"

"It simply means I am not like others you've ordered your hounds to eat," Mercedes replied soberly, glancing back up at the vampire. "Other vampires are spawned from your blood, however many generations removed. They have innate access to power because of that and your hounds are apparently willing to destroy something you've created on your orders. But I am not a vampire and I gained my power by my own doing, and your hounds know and respect that. They won't attack me. Just as mine would refuse to attack you."

"You are capable of summoning demonic familiars?" Alucard asked with a bit of disbelief evident in his voice.

"Indeed, though my hounds look a little different than yours."

Alucard raised an eyebrow at the candid admission. They were drawing near Market Street, however, and there were a few other people at the bus stop. Alucard replaced his glasses so as not to draw attention to his inhuman eyes and their conversation was brought to a necessary pause. Most of the people waiting at the bus stop boarded the bus line they stepped onto when the bus pulled up.

As Mercedes showed her transit pass to the driver, she had the sudden, almost hysterical, urge to giggle at the absurdity of the moment.

'Riding an intercity bus with the original big-scary vampire… _Baiser ma vie_ , that's something that happens every day… I suppose I should be glad he's not levitating my ass home or already trying to drain me.'

Mercedes managed to swallow down her giggle and walked to the back of the bus, remaining standing and holding onto a pole. Alucard stood a short distance away, fiery gaze alternating between Mercedes and the window across from him.

Once the bus crossed over Roosevelt Boulevard, Mercedes had them get off at the next stop instead of riding closer to home. She wasn't anxious to spend more time in the vampire's presence. But she also didn't want to arrive home too quickly and possibly need to spend time talking outside her building to answer whatever questions he had, where neighbors could possibly come across them and overhear the subject matter. As it was so late at night, they were unlikely to pass many, if any, people on the street.

"What was it you did last night to escape?" Alucard removed his glasses and resumed his questioning once the bus pulled away.

"You're a telepath, I'm an empath. I used my own form of mental attack in a manner similar to how I'm sure you could use your telepathy," Mercedes answered. There was really no point in not answering so she was going with simple straight-forward truth. "And then I used my energy to get your hand off my throat and placed an immobilizing barrier enchantment on you to give myself a chance to run."

"Where did you learn to use your empathy in such a fashion?"

"I didn't learn that particular trick anywhere, I just instinctively know how to do it. There are a few benefits to being me. Would it be considered offensive if I have a cigarette while we continue this walk?"

"They are your lungs, do with them as you will," Alucard answered impassively.

"Thank you." Mercedes proceeded to light and smoke said cigarette, immensely glad for the nicotine fix.

"The barrier you erected, how does it tie to the necklace you wear?" Alucard asked after she had smoked a few drags off her cigarette.

The necklace Alucard indicated was a pendant consisting of a polished upside down teardrop moonstone with a circular faceted celestite crystal above it. The pendant was set on a double strand of lapis lazuli, moonstone and amethyst; with larger bleached-bone or ivory circular beads, carved in the likeness of rosebuds and possessing two sets of holes, at regular intervals to keep the two strands intertwined. It fit close around Mercedes's neck and had no clasp to remove it. Alucard was genuinely not certain how the necklace was secured, but its function was far more important to know than the specifics of its make.

"I created this necklace to enhance my powers and make them less wearying to use. And it has a few protective enchantments imbued into it as well."

"That isn't easy sorcery to learn or perform," Alucard commented. "You can't be more than thirty and the only humans I've met who could perform enchantments of that level were well into their fifties and sixties."

"I'm 24, 25 in a few months, thank you very much. While I'll gladly age in due time, I would prefer that you don't speed up the age progression quite so quickly." Mercedes spoke with a faked indignant tone, trying to lighten her stressed state of mind with humor, before becoming serious again. "And, again, being me has a few advantages. It was worth the efforts extended for the benefits the necklace provides. May I ask how long the binding lasted?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Well, I know how long it would last on the run of the mill vampire. I'm curious how long it lasted on you, being who you are."

"About half a minute," was Alucard's neutral response.

"That long?" Mercedes was actually pleased by that.

"That's hardly any time," Alucard pointed out.

"Given that you're you, I'm surprised it held at all."

Alucard looked down at her with a clearly inquiring expression. "How long does it normally last?"

"Anywhere from three to fifteen minutes, depending on the vampire."

"I see. And how many times have you needed to use that enchantment?"

"A couple times."

"What other abilities do you possess, if any?"

"Now why would you need to know that?" Mercedes asked suspiciously. "Our agreement was I don't see you again after tonight and this little game of 20 questions we're playing. Unless you're planning on going back on your word of being safe from attacks from you and killing me to make not seeing you again true in a rather unsporting manner, and wishing to have a heads up on any other surprises I might pull out to try stopping you, I don't see how that is relevant to this conversation."

Alucard smirked and glanced down at the cigarette-smoking human again. He stated bluntly, "If I was going to kill you tonight, you would be dead already. Whatever powers you have, I sincerely doubt you'd be able to stop me if I decide to kill you. Given that you know who I am, I think you also know that I speak the truth on that matter. I ask out of curiosity."

"I do believe there are some fables about curiosity," Mercedes said, returning his smirk.

"Indeed, and the cats found that out last night. I am no cat so I'll take my chances. Answer my question." Alucard's request was unmistakably an imperious demand, though that arrogant smirk didn't disappear.

"Besides various ways to utilize my empathy and different types of enchantments, and having an affinity for hell hounds, do I have any other powers?" Mercedes clarified, no longer attempting to joke about or evade his question.

"Yes."  
"I'm a seer," was Mercedes's resigned, almost flat, response.

Alucard raised an eyebrow again. "A seer?"

"Yes."

"Explain specifically and clearly what you mean by that."

"I'm a seer," Mercedes reiterated with a sigh. Her tone was displeased and vaguely sarcastic with being forced to talk about this particular gift, especially with this particular entity. "An oracle. A clairvoyant. A psychic. A person who divines the futures in any number of fashions, not always intentionally. I occasionally get unwanted visions in my head, of something happening in the past, present or future that I need to know about because it is about to effect me. Or I'm around someone or something and suddenly I'll know something important in relation to that thing in proximity. Or sometimes I open my mouth and, without knowing what's about to come out, I'm stating something that is true, either in relation to a question asked or because it is something the person I am speaking with needs to know. You'll know when that happens because my eyes will faintly flash gold, even though I'm not actively summoning any power. Thankfully, people almost always dismiss it in their minds as a trick of the light and don't notice. Or I'll get the sudden feeling like I need to be somewhere, go a different way to someplace than I usually do, and it lets me avoid danger or be somewhere I apparently need to be. I also read tarot cards and have yet to ever have an inaccurate reading. And being a true seer is why I never lie. I am definitively incapable of knowingly telling a lie. Universe won't let me. I either can't say the lie and will be entirely silent, or the truth will be said instead, no matter how hard I try to say the lie. A sometimes annoying drawback that comes with the divinatory territory that I discovered as a small child trying to fib to her parents. Jim Carrey in _Liar Liar_ had it easy cuz he could eventually get out of it. I hope that was specific and clear enough for you, good sir."

Alucard glanced down at the human with narrowed eyes, not particularly pleased with her sharp attitude. Rather than comment on her last remark, he asked, "And yet, despite what your claim to be as a seer, you still ended up in such a position as you were last night?"

"I'm a seer, not a god. I never claimed to be omniscient," was Mercedes's defensive response. "Divination is not some perfected science. Nor can I always get tip offs on cue or at every moment of the day."

Alucard raised an eyebrow, "Did you just adapt a line from…"

" _The Count of Monte Cristo_?" Mercedes interjected with a knowing smirk. " _Oui_ , I did. Given my name and that I'm also an interfaith minister of French heritage, I found the line appropriate. And it's a good book and movie, _n'est pas_?"

"Certainly more tolerable than some," Alucard said. "And does being a seer have something to do with how you are able to create such advanced enchantments at your age?"

"It may," Mercedes conceded slowly, drawing out the syllables.

Alucard gave her a look that clearly said he wasn't satisfied with that answer.

Mercedes added, still a bit defensive, though now it was because she didn't want to give a potential threat the full idea of what her gifts were capable of, "I don't believe it's necessary to give you the step-by-step complete details of how my powers interact and relate to each other. We could be here 'til dawn while I relate that. And as I hear it, even for powerful vampires, sunlight isn't exactly comfortable to be in. I only have a few tricks up my sleeves, but the ways I have come up with to combine and use them are numerous."

Alucard decided to let the matter drop, for the time being, and instead asked, "Do you have any other powers besides those you've mentioned?"

"If you mean do I have superhuman speed, strength, or agelessness as you do, no. And I certainly don't have your regeneration capabilities." Mercedes gestured to her injured torso to make her point.

Alucard glanced at her corseted hourglass frame when she did so.

"I am still very much human and my powers are those of the mind." Mercedes glanced back up at the vampire and once more her intuitive gifts pushed at her, causing her to add, "You gained your far more extensive powers because you wished to permanently evade death and be so formidable to face your enemies when you sought them out. I gained mine out of the desire to protect myself and those I care for while I'm still alive. Therein lies the significant difference."

"That's still admitting to quite the disadvantage if you're concerned I may try to kill you by the end of the night," Alucard noted. He had seen Mercedes's eyes flash gold again as she made her latter remark and decided he didn't want to allow discussion to begin on that particular subject. He wasn't certain he believed the young woman was a seer as she claimed, it could simply be drawing on supernatural energy that caused her eyes to change colors and aid in the false claim, but she did seem to be acutely more perceptive than he was comfortable with.

"I'd think a great deal of that was clear after last night," Mercedes remarked. "And you would find out the rest anyway should you make the attempt to kill me. Evasion won't gain me anything."

"No, it wouldn't," Alucard agreed bluntly. "Where did you learn to fight?"

Mercedes glanced up at the vampire again when he asked that, wondering why it mattered unless he was planning to attack her.

Alucard met her gaze, again giving nothing away of his reasons for asking.

"From various sources, mainly over the last ten years," Mercedes finally replied. She looked ahead as she continued answering, "Mostly friends who are trained in one form of combat or other and passed some of that training on to me for self-defense."

"I see," was the brief response from Alucard.

The rest of Mercedes's cigarette was smoked in silence and she flicked the spent cigarette into the road.

"How did you know who I was?" Alucard asked, having noticed the reaction she had had when she heard his name. It could have been simply hearing rumors of a vampire named Alucard, but then she named him as the first of vampires, which meant her knowledge went a much deeper level.

"Despite the continued use of a clever inverse of an alternate name you are well known by?" Mercedes asked with a little bit cheek.

Alucard raised an eyebrow and gave her a look that clearly told her to answer the question properly.

Mercedes sighed, having hoped she wouldn't have to disclose such information. "You're not the only vampire I've met. Over the years I've heard a number of things about a number of vampires of any import. The first and reigning king of vampires would certainly fall under that qualifier. You may have kept your identity low profile while in Hellsing's employ, but you've been a bit more noticeable since breaking free and people will connect the dots if they have any sense in their heads and knowledge of basic history."

"Interesting theory, though you might be surprised by how few are those who actually do connect the dots." Alucard's voice was neutral despite the comment. "You're still associated with these other vampires?"

"Some of them," Mercedes conceded.

"Why is that? Most would consider it a direct hazard to their long-term wellbeing."

"Some might," Mercedes agreed soberly. "And certainly that is true of many vampires out there. However, the vampires I have come to call friends are not the types who are interested in drinking copious amounts of blood, causing world-scale chaos, and creating legions of undead and are therefore a constant threat to my wellbeing. Besides the fact they are vampires and have traits that are part and parcel with that, they're quite similar to anyone else I call friends. I don't make judgments on who I call a friend based by superficial measures."

"And how did you meet these other vampires?"

"Generally, in a similar fashion as I met you, sans the would-be rapists. They caught a hint I wasn't a normal human and were curious what was different. Or someone they knew was aware of my differences and introduced me to those vampires so discussions about supernatural powers could take place and knowledge exchanged."

"And yet you're still human after having associations with vampires?"

"You mean why am I not locked away somewhere on the permanent blood donor list, a ghoul, or a vampire myself?"

"Indeed."

"I don't particularly care for the idea of my blood leaving my body and my vampire friends find my company far more riveting as a fully cognizant human than a brain-dead ghoul. And as I happen to be a mother, I'm obviously not a virgin, so again, that'd bring us back to ghoul."

"Fair enough points."

"Besides, even were I a virgin, I don't have any particular interest in living forever," Mercedes stated matter-of-fact.

"And why is that?" Alucard asked with a raised eyebrow.

"It's outside the natural order of life. Everything is supposed to die at some point, otherwise this world would get far too overcrowded," Mercedes said resolutely. "With the way the world is currently going, I also really don't think I'd care to see where society ends up a few hundred years from now." She added as an afterthought, though still serious, "Besides, vampires can't eat food and I have a rather strong liking of food."

"You get used to the diet, even if it is limited to liquids," Alucard said with a smirk.

"Perhaps. They said that as well," Mercedes said with a shrug. "But even if non-virgins could become vampires, I do have a son. Turning to ashy bits if I walk him to school or take him to the park to play isn't conducive to mothering. Neither is getting hungry and thinking 'Food!' every time he falls down and scrapes his knee. And as an active five year old boy, he does that a lot. I don't relish the thought of fighting off a bloodlust every time it happens so as not to kill my own child."

Alucard gave a sardonic chuckle and said, "I suppose those are fair points."

"I have a question for you, Alucard," Mercedes said after a minute of silence, thinking of the odd feeling from earlier in the day.

Alucard glanced down at her again and then nodded for her to continue.

"Did you follow me home last night, or were you nearby as I was leaving my neighborhood to go to work earlier this evening?"

"Is that one of your seer inspired questions?" Alucard asked in amusement.

"I will take that as a yes of some form," Mercedes said, not the least amused. ' _Fou le camp_ ,' she also thought. 'He already knew where I lived before he walked into the bar tonight and likely already knew about Xander. I really do have another vampire stalker on my hands and it's just my luck that this time it had to be the sire of all vampires.'

"I followed you home last night," Alucard admitted nonchalantly. "I left shortly after you arrived and then I wasn't in your vicinity again until I entered the bar tonight."

"So you were not around here earlier this evening?" Mercedes pursued the question further.

"No. Why do you ask?"

"I thought I sensed someone with a higher than normal-human level of energy for a brief period of time. But it was gone before I could identify it or be sure of it. With as fast as it disappeared, though, that indicates vampire."

"I see. And you didn't wonder if perhaps it could be one of your vampire friends?" Alucard almost sounded annoyed.

"They generally give me the courtesy of calling before they show up," Mercedes said. "If they do drop in unexpectedly, they don't disappear when I've become aware of their presence. And only one of them lives in the city itself."

"Seems a logical conclusion to ask me," Alucard conceded. "But whatever you sensed, it was not me."

"May I ask what you are doing in Philadelphia?" Mercedes ventured after another minute of silence. "Last I had heard, you were living in England."

"I am here on business," Alucard answered without giving any real information.

'Well at least he's just passing through after all,' Mercedes thought in relief. Outwardly her response was a simple nod.

They walked for several minutes in silence and she smoked a second cigarette.

As they drew closer to her apartment, she asked, "Were there any other questions you wanted answered, Alucard?"

"What would you have done if I had not come to your aid last night?"

Mercedes glanced up at the vampire in surprise.

Alucard met her gaze without saying anything further.

Mercedes looked away as she contemplated her answer.

"I would have done what I needed to to survive and go home to my son," she finally said as stoically as she could, looking back up at the vampire. "I won't allow someone to jeopardize my ability to do so. I've handled attackers before who wouldn't back down and walked away from the encounter relatively uninjured. What I did to you with my empathy to escape would have landed those frat boys in a mental hospital for quite some time. If that had failed for some reason, they would have been a meal for my own hounds. But I prefer not to resort to such measures for a number of reasons."

"And if I tried to kill you this evening?" Alucard asked with a perfectly neutral expression and tone of voice.

"I would do what I could to fight you, even if it is an exercise in futility." Mercedes spoke quietly, but with an underlying fierceness, meeting Alucard's gaze as she answered without even a moment's hesitation this time. "My son needs his mother and I would never abandon him under any circumstances. Refusing to fight to return to my child would be the same as walking away from him."

Alucard nodded once.

They reached Mercedes's apartment in silence a few minutes later.

"It was interesting to have the chance to speak with you, Mercedes," Alucard said as they reached her front door. "Thank you for answering my questions."

"And thank you for holding to your word in seeing me safely home, Alucard," Mercedes said. She managed a tentative smile as she reached into her purse for her keys, glad this interrogation was at an end and she was apparently going to be allowed to walk away from it alive. "I hope you enjoy the rest of your stay here in Philly."

"I believe I should." Alucard tipped the brim of his hat with a touch of his fingers. "Good luck to you in the future." He turned and walked away without further conversation.

When he walked out of sight past the neighboring building, Mercedes unlocked the front door and went inside to her apartment.

When her apartment door was secured behind her after saying good night to Geina, Mercedes, for the second night in a row, breathed a deep sigh of relief.

'Okay… That was quite enough excitement for one season,' Mercedes thought. 'Let's hope I have another few months before some new thing tries to blindside me.'

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Around five in the morning, when Mercedes had only been asleep an hour or so, her cell phone rang. She looked at the number with sleep-bleary eyes and saw it was Liam calling.

'A bit belated, Liam, but better late than never I suppose,' Mercedes thought, feeling more than a little hurt it had taken so long to hear back from him under the rather serious circumstances.

She tapped the glowing green icon on the screen and said, "Good evening, Liam."

"Mercedes?! Oh, thank the gods!" The smooth reverberating voice spoke in a rush, contrary to his usual calm and cultured speech. "I am sorry I did not call back sooner, _a gréine_ , but I was out with a companion for the evening, left my cell phone at home, and only just got in. Are you alright?"

Liam's accent, like Alucard's, was a mix of various places he had lived. An Irish lilt occasionally made its way out, or a smooth French purr at other times, though his accent was predominantly American as he had lived primarily in the States for so long.

Hearing the concerned tone, his nickname for her, and the native Irish accent making its way into his words (which indicated a higher level of worry than even that verbalized, to someone who knew him well enough to know what his shifts in speech indicated), Mercedes felt some of her irritation with Liam drain away. Some, but not all.

"I survived the journey home without any further incidents," Mercedes said ambivalently, pulling her disrupted blankets back over her shoulders and snuggling into her pillows. "Surprisingly and thankfully, my stalker only wished to speak as he had stated and left me safely at the front door."

"That is a relief," Liam said with genuine relief indeed evident in his voice. "I was made aware just this weekend that Alucard was in town for some unknown reason, and your description matched the ones I have heard of him, so I knew it was not a pretender showing up at your bar."

"Ah. Well, nice to know for certain he was who he said he was," Mercedes said cheekily and in exact opposition to the slight knot of anxiety that confirmation left in her stomach.

"You are sure you are alright, _a gréine_?" Liam persisted, not laughing at the attempt she made to be humorous. "I was more than half afraid I would receive no answer because Alucard had killed you already. What exactly did he want?"

"I'm okay, really, Liam," Mercedes assured him, his continued worried tone now making her feel guilty for the irritation she felt over his delayed answer to her calls. "Like I said on my message, some college guys tried to jump me on my way home from work last night. Alucard showed up while I was fighting them off, fed them to one of his infamous hounds, and I told said hound to heel when it looked like it might in turn try to eat me. Alucard took offense to it and demanded answers as to how I did so rather forcefully, but I managed to escape without injury. He was apparently curious as to what was different about me as he saw my eyes do their mood ring thing and because I was able to make the temporary get away. He asked questions about my powers and then left politely enough. There was no harm done. I'd guess he didn't find me threatening enough to bother killing."

Liam briefly chuckled, but the laugh sounded a tad strained. "Well, your shining golden eyes are an interesting and lovely side effect of those gifts of yours, Sunshine, and they do tend to draw notice when it happens," he said playfully, Irish lilt finally fading away. Always the mercurial vampire, he added more seriously, "I am relieved to hear that is all he wanted, though, and you are safe and sound."

"Safe and sound and in one not-drained piece," Mercedes confirmed. "Thank you for calling when you got my message, Liam, even if it was belated. I appreciate you checking in on me."

"Of course, Mercedes. I would never ignore a message from you, especially not one like that," Liam said, tone sincerely concerned. "If you had not answered, I would have left immediately to track down what happened to you." The Elder added with a distinctly chastising tone, "You should have called me last night after that incident so I could see you safely escorted home from work tonight."

"You apparently had a date tonight, though, so that would have interfered with your plans," Mercedes pointed out as neutrally as she could.

"Dates are dates," Liam said dismissively. "I only have one Sunshine to cast her warm rays upon my cold unending night and I am not about to allow harm to come to her."

That affectionate statement brought a small smile to Mercedes's face. Her smile faded, however, as Liam continued speaking.

"If the lady would allow me to arrange a better job and residence for her, such precautions would not even be necessary, and it would be a step back in the right direction for one of your standing."

"Liam, you know I don't like requesting large favors like that, but I appreciate the offer and I apologize for not calling you sooner and then giving you a fright," Mercedes said patiently, not inclined to let that particular disagreement resurface. "I didn't want you to worry or be extending such efforts that would interrupt your evening if it turned out to be an isolated incident."

"As you say, Sunshine. I have had plenty of cause to know how you are- stubbornly independent and always wishing to do things your own way," Liam said in good humored chastising. "I maintain that it is an endearing yet occasionally exasperating quality you have, darling. And one of mine is to be concerned for the wellbeing of those under my protection, so I suppose we shall once again have to agree to disagree on the matter…"

Liam's voice became more impish as he continued speaking, "By the way, Sunshine… I realize it might not be the most opportune moment to bring this up, but there is an event Deirdre has suddenly decided to throw on the first Saturday in August. I have been told it would be considered an almost unforgivable faux pas if I don't at least make a short appearance. I therefore have need of a lovely lady on my arm and would be deeply grateful for a reprieve from the usual bevy of undead scavengers clawing and cawing to be seen with me at an event for Elders. Would you care to ask Val to watch the little man so you can have an enjoyable night out with our friends at my expense as thanks for saving me from such a tragic and all too frequent fate?"

Mercedes laughed for a few seconds at the dramatic, aggrieved tone the vampire used for the request, but her laughter was cut short as it made the pain in her ribs flare up. "And what of your rule about not being seen more than three times in a year with any one woman at events the Elders are hosting?" she asked pleasantly, trying not to let discomfort from her injury enter her voice as one arm went around her torso reflexively. "We already went to the New Year's Masquerade and the Valentine's Gala. And we made plans in advance for the _Samhain_ Masquerade. This would make four."

"Rules were made to be broken, darling," Liam said in silky tones. "And you already know I do not mind bending or breaking my own when you are concerned."

"While that is true," Mercedes attempted not to sound harsh, though now her discomfort was of a nonphysical nature, "attempted rule breaking even amongst friends and their own rules is a dangerously slippery slope that can lead to disagreements that would have been best not having occurred."

Liam gave an aggrieved sigh but said patiently, "I know and I've already sworn to you, my dear Sunshine, that I am not going to try to break those particular rules. But less important rules of my own design I will gladly bend or break for the singular cause of your shining company. October, especially the very last day of it, is an atrociously distant time away. If we must, we can count the New Year's Masquerade as a part of last year's outings as it did technically begin before the start of this year." Liam's voice turned as near to playfully pleading as the prideful vampire would allow it to be. "Now, will you please be a dear and gracious friend and grant me this request? If you refuse me a third request in so short a span of time, Sunshine, I do believe my poor undead heart shall permanently break from such cruelty and you shall leave me with an eternity of sorrow that I would fail to drown in drink or diversions."

Mercedes shook her head in amused exasperation, knowing Liam was going to continue guilt-tripping her until he got his way and she accepted the invitation. "Let me talk to Val and see if she's free. She knows I haven't had a night out in months, so she should be willing to watch Xander if she is available. I'll also talk to Jackie and make sure she'll let me have the night off, though that shouldn't be a problem with this much notice. If so, then yes, I will play the living shield and save you from the ravaging harpies for a night. As you say, October is a long time away and it would be pleasant to have a night out with you again."

"Wonderful! As always, you have blessed my eternal night with another glimpse of sunlight that leaves me weak in only the most welcome of ways," Liam said in an immensely pleased tone. "Thank you, Mercedes. Inform me of what Val and Jackie say and, if you are able to make it, we shall go over the fine details for the night."

"Sounds like a delightful plan overall. I'll call you sometime in the next few nights to let you know how those talks fare," Mercedes agreed. "I hope the remainder of your evening is pleasant, Liam."

"Yours as well, darling." Liam's quicksilver voice became more serious as he said, "And if anything else happens, no matter the severity of the threat, do not hesitate to call me again. I can promise you tonight has taught me a lesson and I will be more vigilant to be available should I need to be reached. Alucard is a fighter not a lover, and therefore my opposite in some respects, but at the very least I should be able to reason with him if he for some reason goes back on his word and attempts anything of a less inquisitive nature. I do not wish to see something happen to you and have little Xander be without his mother. Please remember that I will always do whatever I can to keep such an event from happening, so there is no need to refrain from asking for help if it is needed."

"I will keep that in mind as I know you mean that, and I do sincerely appreciate it," Mercedes said with a grateful smile tugging at her lips. "Thank you again, Liam."

"Of course, my Sunshine. Good night and sweet dreams," came the fond reply before Liam hung up the phone.

Mercedes sighed, tossed the phone back on the side table, and snuggled back up under the blankets on her bed. Exhausted as she was, she was asleep a few minutes later.

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Alucard was still in the vicinity of Mercedes's apartment building when he heard her cell phone ring. The shadowy form he was in shifted just close enough to hear the conversation taking place between the human and her friend over the phone.

Alucard recognized the name 'Liam' as one of the eldest of Elder vampires known to be living in this country. Alucard knew that Liam was a bit more high-profile than many vampires, but for all his publicity Liam did not announce what he was, nor partake in activities that could bring vampire hunters or the general human populace down on their kind en masse.

Alucard could also hear, even from the distance that he was at, the concern in the vampire's voice for this human woman he called friend, repeatedly spoke to with endearments, and obviously socialized with by his own volition. Alucard likewise noted that while Mercedes had agreed pleasantly enough to the request for future plans, there was no fawning exclamations- as would be from most women with a false romantic notion of vampires thanks to modern media- nor indications of anything beyond companionship. Their bantering interactions and amicable agreements to set aside known differences sounded quite rote for them, which indicated a relative amount of respect and closeness fostered between them.

With Liam's notorious reputation of unabashed philandering, Alucard found those details to be quite the curiosity.

'Seems the little mouse does choose her friends with care,' Alucard contemplated. 'And while she apparently has no qualms refusing to accept help for more mundane aspects of her life, even when the offer is extended by an Elder vampire who could likely kill her near as quickly as myself if he was insulted by a human's refusal, she knew her limitations well enough to call Liam after I walked into her bar. That would explain the sensory-blocking barriers when she left the main room… Smart precautions, even if they'd have proved useless if Liam had shown his face and I had been in the mood to do more than speak with her.'

Alucard was also curious as to what precisely Liam had meant when the Elder had referred to Mercedes as a lady and mentioned something about someone of her standing.

From what Alucard had observed thus far, Mercedes was a single mother living in a lower-rent district of this city, working as a bartender and belly dancer, who used the public transit system rather than having her own vehicle. She had a few rather expensive items in her apartment that were likely heirlooms or keepsakes handed down, but otherwise most things to be seen were generic brand furnishings and decorations. The human dressed respectably and fashionably enough, but she wasn't wearing designer clothes or flashy jewelry. She spoke articulately, rather than in some sort of slang or simple-mindedness, but she didn't come off as self-entitled as most people of means did. She seemed simply well enough educated and had enough of a spine to be courageous when threatened.

Alucard had heard her thinking and speaking bits of French, but there were plenty of French-Americans. To the progenitor of vampires' experience, the French (especially those in France) were even more pretentious than most people of means. Whether upper class or former nobility, most wealthy French were intolerably arrogant to even Alucard's imperious mindset. The human was not evincing any obvious evidence of being from any sort of background beyond perhaps working middle class.

Alucard wondered if Liam was just being flattering as some of his other comments were, if it was some sort of reference to her powers that made the Elder have respect for the human, or if there was something about the human the progenitor of vampires did not yet have knowledge of as he had kept his questioning to immediate matters in regards to her powers and fighting skills.

Alucard pondered the situation a minute longer and then resumed the rounds he was making around her neighborhood. The vampire was looking for signs of whomever may have been stalking the woman, besides himself, returning to the area. He had a strong feeling it might be in some relation to the business that brought him to The States to begin with, and this revelation of her friendship with an Elder vampire only increased that feeling.

What Alucard hadn't told the human was that he could see memories from the 'would be rapists' when he absorbed their blood. They weren't as complete as if he had drank their blood directly from their veins, but he saw enough to know that the attack wasn't a random mugging. A human man- rather nondescript in tanned features, short red hair, green eyes, average height, dressed in a suit- had approached the frat boys. The frat boys were all jocks who had been previously indicted on rape charges but released on a technicality, and the redheaded human had offered them a large sum of money to attack the woman and see to it that she didn't live through the night. The rape was a 'perk' of the deal and they were apparently going to take advantage of the offer to its fullest.

Alucard thought last night that perhaps the redhead making the deal was some scorned lover or other person with a grudge against the woman. But after hearing that she had picked up on abnormal energy in the area, and finding out that she had associations with other vampires, Alucard couldn't help but wonder if there was more to it and if that entity was checking in on the status of the attack.

Such an arrangement for handling problems was not usually the style of those he was watching; but a lot of things happening in this damned city weren't because the dynamics in The United States were far different than those within England or Europe. Alucard was willing to remain in the area a short time to discover if this could turn into a solid lead with more important answers to questions than how the human had her powers.

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Author's Note: 1) I'd like to apologize for a lack of proper scene breaks in previous chapters. Fanfic is glitching and erasing everything I try.

2) Since I posted the first two chapters, there's been nearly a hundred people who have read it, but no reviews. I would like some feedback from you lurkers, but I'll keep posting either way. Personally, I think the person FF says is from Italy is really an Iscariot operative who is assigned to monitor FF because Hellsing anime was a breech of security and secrecy, and now they have to make sure there's no further info leaked. Must be fun. Do you pass along all the Anderson slash so the good father can have weekly meltdowns?

As for the rest of you, well, I have no such interesting guesses. So say hello!


	4. Chapter 4 Business as Usual

Chapter Four

Business as Usual

Mercedes was once again woken early in the morning, not long after dawn, on Tuesday morning by her son.

"Mama…" Xander's young voice whispered. "Mama… Mama, wake up…" Mercedes felt little fingers poking her arm. "Mama, sun is up. Time foh bweakfast."

Xander had lost the ridiculous number of eight baby teeth, the four on top and bottom in the front, within a month's span of time. It left him with the epitome of a gap toothed smile for the time being, almost as though someone had punched out all the front teeth, and he had a slightly altered speech as he waited for the grown up teeth to grow in.

"Mmm… _Oui, mon petit cher_ ," Mercedes murmured and then gave a large yawn. "Give mommy _une_ _minute_ to wake up and I'll get breakfast started."

She glanced at the window and saw that the sun was indeed up. Her son was like a little rooster, up at the crack of dawn every morning without fail unless he was sick with a cold or other extenuating circumstances.

"Okay, mama. Can I watch t-fee?" Xander asked, blue eyes wide with childlike hope.

" _Oui_ , go ahead _, mon petit cher_." Mercedes rubbed her eyes and sat up in bed. "Just keep it down for now."

"Yay!" Xander bolted back into his bedroom to turn on the computer screen and pop a dvd into the dvd drive.

As Mercedes was heading to the kitchen to start the morning routine for breakfast, she could hear Tom and Jerry's "Robin Hood and the Merry Mouse" begin playing. "Eggs, toast and sausages for breakfast?" she asked rhetorically. That was what he wanted almost every morning for breakfast, without fail, no matter what else she offered to cook.

"Yep!" Xander called back happily. "Oh, mama? Do we haf bacon?"

" _Oui,_ we have bacon," Mercedes replied. That was the one variation to breakfast Xander would sometimes request. "Want that instead of sausages?"

"Yeah!"

"Alright, _mon petit cher_ , give me a little bit and I'll have it ready," Mercedes agreed. She started the coffee machine and began cooking the bacon while she waited for the coffee to brew.

As she was cooking breakfast, she heard the work crews arriving for the renovations going on in the apartment building across the street. Shortly thereafter, the sounds of construction started up again.

Mercedes sighed and hung her head. Being someone who worked all night, it sometimes made sleep more difficult when most of the rest of population was awake and going about their daily life. When Xander's breakfast was ready, she took his plate in to him and sat with him to watch cartoons while he ate and she drank her coffee.

"Mewci, mama," Xander said, accepting the plate.

" _Bienvenue, mon petit chere_ ," Mercedes said, using the Canadian slang. She was smiling as her son said the French word (albeit with altered pronunciation) for a change and sipped the steaming hot coffee with a strong dose of sugar and creamer.

"So…" Mercedes said teasingly after a few minutes, deciding that as she wasn't likely getting to sleep anytime soon she might as well be productive. "I was thinking that we'd head into Center City on the train today and do some of your school shopping for kindergarten."

Xander nearly dropped his fork in excitement. "We awe going shopping foh school today?!"

The five year old was looking forward to finally starting school and being able to be around other kids more often. He had a friend a couple years older who lived down the hall that he played with. Otherwise he was limited to random interactions with other kids at the playground or occasional play dates with the child of a friend of hers when they came to the city to visit.

"If you want to," Mercedes said with a smile. "We need to pick up your school uniforms and the stuff on your list of school supplies."

Xander moved to set his still half-full plate aside to leave immediately, which showed just how excited he was.

"Woah! Easy, little man. The stores aren't even open yet. Finish eating first and let me take a shower. We've got plenty of time to go school shopping today."

"Okay…" Xander said morosely.

Mercedes smirked and ruffled his dark hair. "Chill, little guy, and eat your breakfast. You'll need the energy to walk all around the city for shopping."

"Can I bwing Wee?" Xander asked hopefully.

Mercedes glanced dubiously at the oversized stuffed dragon that was almost as tall as her son.

"Uh… _Non_ ," Mercedes said with a smirk, " _Rìgh_ is too big to bring on the train and lug around downtown. He needs to stay here."

"But we can still go? Today?" Xander asked for confirmation.

" _Oui_ , we're going today." Mercedes chugged down the last half of her coffee. "I'll hop in the shower now and we'll leave soon. _D'accord_?"

"D'accowd!" Xander agreed. He began to eat his food more quickly than before to speed up the time for them to leave.

"Easy, easy, _mon petit cher_! You're going to choke if you eat that fast!" Mercedes admonished.

"Uh-uh," Xander denied confidently.

Mercedes rolled her eyes and laughed. Her son was tall for his age and a skinny little bean pole, no matter how much he ate. And he liked to eat, even if he was picky about what he had for breakfast.

"Just slow down. We can't leave until I'm done my shower. You've got time to eat like a little gentleman should."

" _Oui,_ mama," Xander said in the tone of a much aggrieved child.

Mercedes smirked and shook her head. It was near impossible trying to teach a five year old to have manners. She left the room to get ready to go downtown.

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A few hours later, mother and son were downtown and ransacking various stores to acquire all the necessary start-of-school supplies. The first two specialty clothing stores hadn't carried the right color uniform shirts Xander's school requested students wear to match the school's colors. The third did, complete with the school emblem already stitched into the shirts, but not in Xander's size. The fourth store finally produced the necessary shirts.

Mercedes bought Xander a pretzel hotdog for a snack. He ate it in about a minute, and then asked for another.

After the snack break, they stopped into a few department stores to pick up the other school supplies. Mercedes was surprised by how many things were asked for kindergarten students. She remembered kindergarten being a transitional grade when she was a kid- filled with things like art activities, story time and nap time to help the small children acclimate to being in school. But his school was requesting kids be ready with composition notebooks, folders to hold homework assignments, etc.. They were apparently going to be diving into actual educational activities this year.

When those supplies were bought, they headed towards China Town to grab some lunch. Mercedes wasn't much of a breakfast person and her usual coffee had sufficed, but she was now feeling rather ravenous.

Mercedes's phone rang as they weaved between other pedestrians.

" _Bonjour, Grandmère_ ," Mercedes answered the phone.

" _Bonjour_ , Mercedes," her 81 year old grandmother replied. " _Nous n'avons pas entendu parler de vous dans quelques semaines. Comment allez-vous_?"

Mercedes inwardly winced with guilt at the reminder that she had gone so long without calling them. " _Nous sommes bien, grandmère_."

" _Bon_. I worry about you being in such a city like Philadelphia and so far from home. _Quand tu rentres à la maison pour une visite_?"

" _Je ne sais pas, grandmère_ ," Mercedes replied. "I have to get the hours I can while the summer rush is still in full swing. Xander _commence_ _l'école en deux mois. Nous devrons probablement attendre les vacances de Noël pour faire une visite._ "

" _C'est une si longue attente! Nous ne vous avons pas vu depuis Mars_ …"

And her grandmother was now off on one of her usual speeches about Mercedes moving so far from home, about working as many hours as she did, the unacceptable infrequency of her visits, and every other method of guilt the old French woman could manage to contrive. Mercedes didn't care what people generally stereotypically thought, her grandmère could out-guilt any Jewish or Italian old lady any day of the week.

Mercedes spent the next several minutes conversing in a mix of French and English with her grandmother, reminding her of her responsibilities and work, reassuring her grandmother all was well, and telling her about going school shopping for Xander.

Her grandmother habitually switched tracks and began to apologize for chastising Mercedes and said how proud she was that her granddaughter worked as hard as she did to take care of Xander and asked if he was excited to start school.

Xander asked to say hi to his great-grandmother when he heard mention again of school. The preschooler excitedly told her about his new school uniforms and big box of colored pencils for art projects they had just bought.

Then Mercedes was talking to her grandfather for a few minutes. They discussed the especially hot weather they had this summer and how his flowers in the backyard and along the walkway were suffering for it. Her grandfather was a self-reliant sort of man who had retired to a smaller house in his older age so he could keep up the maintenance work on his own as 'busy work' to keep from being idle, so such things aggrieved him on a personal as well as aesthetic level.

Then Mercedes was once more on the phone with her grandmother. Her grandmother gushed over Xander using proper French greetings and farewells finally; Mercedes had taught him English first as he'd be going to an English speaking school. Mercedes was inwardly glad that her grandmother was pleased about that, hoping Xander would do so when on the phone with her.

It was barely two minutes into the renewed conversation, however, when Mercedes was fending off questions in exasperation about why she hadn't settled down and remarried, as it would ease her burdens and give Xander a much needed father figure. Mercedes told her grandmother she had her hands too full with work and Xander to have time to date and she was content enough with life to leave it as it was right now with friends and her son. She added that she made enough money as it was with her job to pay their bills and she wasn't in a hurry to complicate her life with the trials of finding 'Mr. Right'. Her grandmother continued to argue that Mercedes shouldn't have to work as hard as she did, especially late at night as a bartender, most especially not with the upbringing she had, and that she should really try to put some effort into having a more active love life.

Mercedes rolled her eyes as she could hear her grandfather reminding her grandmother, in quickly-spoken whispered French, that her grandmother had had a job to keep herself busy before they married, each rather late in life in those days at 28. Her grandmother said, also in French but not bothering to whisper to ensure that Mercedes would hear her, that such was well and fine for a single woman who lived with her own parents, but Mercedes was a mother now and she and Xander deserved to have another parent in the household and some of the responsibilities shared.

A small excerpt of her grandmother's long guilt-rant was when the old woman not so subtly mentioned, "And Francis, you remember that polite young man Mercedes is friends with and brought home for a visit that one time as a date for Pierre's wedding last year? You remember the one I am speaking of, Francis? The one who was so helpful when Angelique passed away and who is always so nice to take our calls when Mercedes is too busy to answer her phone and I am left to worry if something has also suddenly happened to her? … _Mais oui_. Isn't Liam such a delightful, good-looking young man? And while he certainly is busy with his career that makes him so well off, he's not too busy to take our phone calls because he is such a nice young man who realizes that a young woman's family needs to be kept properly aware of her wellbeing. For one of Irish descent, he is such a model of proper decorum and manners. And he was so good with little Alexander both times, wasn't he? …Don't be ridiculous, Francis! Of course he's not gay! What gave you that impression?!"

Mercedes had to hold back a suffering groan. Asking Liam to be her date for her cousin's wedding in an attempt to temporarily placate her grandmother had most definitely backfired. She renewed in her mind that she was not ever going try that diversionary tactic again. Instead of quieting her grandmother's harangues that Mercedes had no social life or prospects, it only made the old woman chastise her for not following up with further date-visits home, and made a point of bringing such up whenever she talked to either of them…

As her grandmother was still doing…

For several excruciating minutes…

Pretending that such talk was solely for her husband's ears, despite being on the phone with Mercedes…

With her more progressive grandfather trying, unsuccessfully, to champion her right to remarry or not in her own time; and once again trying to convince his wife that he was fairly certain the young man in question was in fact gay, his publicized affairs being a diversion from his hidden sexuality, and such was the reason the two remained simply friends…

Mercedes finally managed to divert the conversation from her lacking love life. Trying not to cringe at playing into her grandmother's antiquated ideals so she could have a moment's respite from the berating, she playfully said in French, "You know what one of the biggest problems may be, _grandmère_? These days men just aren't like they used to be. You were so very lucky to have found such a hard-working, financially secure, loyal family man like _grandpère_ , that _ton père_ approved of. Is it any wonder I have not remarried yet when I have such exemplary standards as _grandpère_ to judge a man by?"

Her grandmother, (who was suffering from the mid stages of Alzheimer's, except, miraculously, when it came to Mercedes's lacking love life or her infrequent visits home, and the worry she felt over that seemingly dismal situation,) admitted with pride that she was indeed very lucky to have such a husband. Her grandmother began recalling stories from their earlier years of marriage when Mercedes's grandfather had been in the military and having their own little children to raise.

Mercedes smirked to herself on a job well done for one such as herself who could not tell a lie to pacify her meddling grandmother, listening to the stories and making appropriate comments at regular intervals.

Her only excuse for bumping into someone was that she was distracted on the phone and juggling bags while still holding onto Xander's hand with one hand as he played with a little Lego figure he had kept in his pocket. But bump into someone she did. A rather tall someone, who would otherwise be rather hard to miss in his white priest robes and long grey jacket.

When Mercedes bumped into the priest, her 'seer senses' (as Val had dubbed them) sent her a flash of hostility and deep-seething anger… and a strange foreboding sense of danger.

"Oh! _Pardonnez moi, monsignor_!" Mercedes said in embarrassment, not switching out of French mode immediately because she felt momentarily off-guard by the strong emotions she had picked up on. "Please excuse me, father! I did not see you. I hope I caused you no harm."

Mercedes was raised in a strict Roman Catholic household. Though her own personal beliefs greatly differed from her family's as she grew older, along with many other aspects of her life, she still had it deeply engrained in her to show any member of a religion's clergy respect and the apology came automatically.

The blonde priest was looking down at her through seeing glasses with rather unfriendly bright green eyes. His gaze went to her purse, more specifically the small silver cross and tiny antique Saints pendants hanging from her purse on a chain that flashed in the sunlight. He met her gaze again, gave a single nod and solemnly said with a noticeably thick Scottish accent, "I am uninjured. God be with you, child."

Mercedes nodded to the priest apologetically. "Thank you, and you as well, father."

"Mama, why do you keep callin' him fatha? He's not papa," Xander said, resisting his mother's attempt to tug him along.

Mercedes sighed, paused her retreat, and said into her phone, " _Une minute, grandmère_." Attention back on her son, she held the phone back to her chest to muffle her words and clarified for the child. "Not 'Father' as in papa, Xander. 'Father' as in a priest, like Father Baldassare back home."

"Oh," Xander said, little dark brows furrowed in thought. Then he looked up at the priest, who had paused to watch the exchange. "Why awen't you weawing black wobes like Fatha Baldy?"

Mercedes had to stifle a giggle at the nickname her son had for the Italian priest's difficult long name, which actually wasn't accurate as he had a full head of thick salt-and-pepper locks. She gave a small apologetic smile when the priest raised an eyebrow at her. "I am sorry, father. We've been trying to teach him to say Father Baldassare's name properly. Losing so many teeth and resulting speech issues has only made it harder."

The priest nodded once then turned his green gaze to the child. "I'm a different sort of priest than those at the local churches, lad," the priest said with a small smile, one that seemed somewhat insincere to Mercedes.

She felt the need to add contritely, still feeling deeply ill at ease with the priest and hoping she sounded simply embarrassed with accidentally bumping him and then her son's questioning, "Again, I apologize for bumping into you. I hope you have a pleasant day, father." Mercedes quickly continued on her way with her son before either male could give a response, and certainly before her curious son could continue his inquisition of the strange priest.

"Mercedes? _Êtes-vous encore là_?" Her grandmother was asking in mild annoyance.

" _Oui, grandmère_ ," Mercedes said. " _Je suis désolé_. I accidentally bumped into someone and needed to apologize for the rudeness. For being _un Mardi après-midi,_ there are a lot of people out shopping today and the sidewalks are a bit crowded."

Mercedes chatted with her grandmother the rest of the way to the tea and noodle shop she and her son enjoyed most when in China Town.

.

.

.

.

The rest of the day went by quickly for Mercedes and Xander. The rest of their shopping for household items was completed and they caught the train back home.

The work crews across the street had stopped the especially loud construction for the time being, so Mercedes took a short nap in the bedroom while Xander watched a Little Einsteins movie in the living room and played with a new Lego set she had bought him. She got up an hour and a half later, in time to make dinner for them to eat together.

After dinner, and a couple cups of coffee, Mercedes changed into her work clothes and was passing off Xander-duty to Geina so she could once again be at work and making money while her son spent most of the time sleeping. Mercedes hated missing time with her son and, despite her grandmother's protests over the career choice and hours, she preferred the late night hours as they allowed her to be home with her son while he was awake. When Xander started school in a few months, Mercedes would have more time to sleep during the day and she would be home to take care of him should he get sick; without having to miss time from work because she needed, and might not be able to find, an emergency day-time sitter.

Mercedes's shift at work went by in its usual routine. CJ and Tony were there again and they were curious to discover information on the man who had been waiting on her the night before. CJ was definitely the most inquisitive, as the young gay man thought Alucard had been rather attractive.

Mercedes had to hold back a laugh at the notion of CJ trying to flirt with the vampire. She told her coworkers that he had just been an acquaintance who had stopped in to chat with her a little, but he likely wouldn't be coming to the bar again as he was only in town a short while.

CJ was deeply disappointed by that news, especially as he had been hoping to have another chance to check out the 'man candy' again.

Tony was nearly as disappointed, but it was because he had hoped Mercedes might actually have taken an interest in something besides work, art projects, or her kid.

Mercedes returned their playful banter with some of her own and the conversation went to other topics as the bar began to steadily fill with patrons.

Mercedes was relieved that there were indeed no more visits from Alucard, nor any other unpleasant happenings with unruly bar patrons. Liam called her cell phone halfway through the evening to check on her. Mercedes called him back on her break to reassure him that all was going quietly and to not worry.

When the end of her shift came, Mercedes said goodnight to her coworkers and managed to catch the closer bus line that would take her near home. She even had just enough time to have a quick cigarette before the bus pulled up. The ride home went quietly and Mercedes gave Liam a short call (as promised during the previous call) to let him know the rest of the evening had passed without incident. The short walk from the bus stop in her neighborhood to her apartment was likewise uneventful.

After she got inside and said good night to Geina, Mercedes was in a more relaxed mood than she had been in the last few days. She made herself a quick meal to eat, a cup of herbal tea to drink, and took a long hot shower to help calm the aches and pains she still had from the other night. Contrary to her initial concerns, it seemed her muscles and ribs were simply bruised, there wasn't any developing signs of a fracture. But it still hurt something fierce.

Once Mercedes had dried off and gotten dressed into clean clothes, she went outside to have a cigarette before bed. She didn't smoke in her apartment with Xander being there, not wanting to expose him to her bad habit. She loaded up the Sudoku app on her phone, selecting the hardest level puzzles available. Trying to finish a puzzle before her cigarette was finished was a challenge she set for herself to help unwind hectic thoughts by concentrating on something else. She was successful nine out of ten times and often had time to be well into a second puzzle before her cigarette was done.

Mercedes was just taking the second drag off her cigarette when she became aware of a distinct sort of energy not too far away. She concentrated a moment and recognized the source of the energy immediately.

Mercedes shook her head in disbelief. She should have known the night was going too well.

She turned her Sudoku app off and glanced up from her phone to the general direction she could sense the energy being in.

'I know you're there, Alucard.' Mercedes opened her mind just enough for the vampire to hear the thought because she could feel the wispy sensations of Alucard monitoring her mind once her senses had reached out to confirm his energy.

A few seconds later the form of the vampire condensed in the shadows by the sidewalk. He was dressed the same as the last two evenings, sans his glasses. Mercedes wondered just how many pairs of the same outfit he bought, or if he had packed light for this trip to the States and was simply wearing the same outfit repeatedly without care to what others thought of him doing so. Given the vampire in question, she supposed anything was possible.

"Good evening, Mercedes," Alucard said with a nod of his head and casually strode forward several steps.

"Good evening, Alucard." Her voice couldn't quite keep her aggravation from it. "What are you doing here? You said I answered all the questions you had."

"So you did," Alucard conceded with a smirk, stopping a few yards away.

"So why are you here tonight?" Mercedes asked, trying to keep a civil tone. "I thought our agreement was I answered your questions and then we both go our own ways."

"My way happens to be in this neighborhood this evening," was his nonchalant reply. "That it crosses your path is purely circumstance."

Mercedes waited for the vampire to elaborate. He didn't. "How long do you plan to haunt my neighborhood?"

Alucard smirked wider at that, sharp teeth glinting in the light from the security light in the building's hallway behind Mercedes. "I should think I will only need another night or two before my reasons for being here come to resolution."

"Am I going to hear tomorrow morning that one of my neighbors has gone missing?" Mercedes asked in genuine concern for her neighbors. This wasn't the high-rent district by any means, but most people around here were decent working-class families or elderly.

"If they do, it will not be my doing," Alucard said in a neutral tone, though his smirk remained. "My business here is not finding dinner."

"Then what is your business here?" Mercedes persisted, trying to likewise remain neutral in tone.

"My own," was the entirely uninformative reply from the vampire.

Mercedes shook her head again in aggravation. The seer was beginning to understand why some people got so frustrated with her for ambiguous replies when she didn't wish to give an answer and yet couldn't lie.

She smoked her cigarette in silence for a minute, keeping a careful eye on the progenitor of vampires who had decided to drop by her neighborhood for some reason he refused to disclose.

Alucard remained where he was, watching her with the same slightly amused expression and clearly waiting for her to make the next pass in conversation.

Mercedes realized whatever feelings of sleepiness she had had were now gone thanks to this unexpected turn of events. With a sigh, (and wondering if perhaps she was quite insane for doing the following, but acting on what her seer intuition told her would be safe to do,) she met Alucard's crimson-iris gaze. "Does your business here, whatever it is, necessitate you lurking in shadows without relent, or would you like to come inside and have a cup of tea?"

He raised an eyebrow and gave a slightly wider canine-revealing smirk. The vampire said in a curious and silky tone, "If I'm not mistaken, Mercedes, part of our agreement was I was not invited inside your home."

"Don't get any ideas, Alucard. I'm not offering anything besides tea," Mercedes said with narrowed eyes. "But if you're going to be stalking my neighborhood, I would prefer to keep you within sight so I know my neighbors are safe."

"And what of your son?" Alucard asked in his normal tone of voice, though his smirk didn't lessen.

"I can protect him better if I see an attack coming, rather than wait for one to slip in," Mercedes pointed out. She added with a fair amount of certainty, "And while I'm aware it is well within your predisposition to be indiscriminate in who you kill if you decide there's a benefit to it; if it was your intent to cause him harm I think you likely could, and would, have done so before now."

"It is a distinct possibility you are correct," Alucard replied, keeping a piercing gaze on the young woman. After a few seconds he added, "I think I would like a cup of tea, thank you."

Mercedes put out her cigarette and tucked it into her pack. She didn't mind tossing an occasional spent cigarette onto the main roads, but she wasn't going to litter her own apartment building's premises. She unlocked the front door and held it open for Alucard. He stepped inside and followed her to her first floor apartment.

She opened the apartment door, which led into a small entryway and then the living room, and nodded towards one of the chairs. "Feel free to have a seat while I make the tea."

Alucard remained standing and casually glanced around the room.

Mercedes decided it wasn't worth a potential conflict to repeat the offer, that had been more a demand for him to stay in one place so as not to cause trouble, and instead went to the kitchen to prepare tea.

Alucard noted, as he had on previous nights, that Mercedes's living room wasn't terribly small for an apartment, but it had tall bookcases along two of the walls that made the room appear smaller. All the bookcases were packed with books of many genres arranged by said categories- fantasy novels, classic fiction, science fiction, mythology and various cultures' classic tales and legends. There were also historical analyses on most eras, biographies, psycholinguistics, socio-politics and socio-economics, art and architecture books, books on plant and animal life, herbalism and natural medicine, gardening, a number of ethnic cookbooks.

The built-in bookcase that took up half the third wall had dvd cases lining the lower shelves. Storage and tool cases for jewelry making supplies were stacked on the upper shelves. The top two shelves were lined with jewelry displays and were filled with jewelry Mercedes had apparently made. A flat screen TV was perched on a set of smaller bookshelves and was across the room from the couch and two chairs, with matching end tables between the couch and the chairs.

The wall above the couch held a mounted stand with a battle ready katana, tanto, and wakizashi. The weapons were not show pieces, appearing to be at least a couple centuries old, and showed small signs of having seen use. Japanese melee weaponry and its artisans was not Alucard's specialty, but he could easily discern that they were high quality and quite likely worth a small fortune should Mercedes wish to sell them. The vampire wondered at her reasons in keeping them, as he noted she had another respectable katana set in the bedroom, given her living circumstances of being in such a neighborhood and having a small child to provide for. She was clearly not of Japanese descent, so it didn't seem likely that particular item she owned would be some sentimentally valuable belonging that she couldn't part with for familial pride reasons.

Further down the same wall had several large plastic boards grouped together, the kind with holes that can support hooks that many people bought for their garages to hang tools off of. Mercedes's had dozens upon dozens of various size bags containing gemstones and less precious stone beads for her jewelry making hanging from the hooks. A staff made of willow wood and engraved with symbols was propped next to the beads, and bore dents and scratches from usage.

Otherwise there were only a few decorations on the walls- a small mirror in the shape of a fairy woman holding the mirror in the entryway across from the door, and a long, narrow Japanese calligraphy painting on a framed silk cloth next to the katana display.

The translation of the calligraphy, if one knew them, was: "Balance. Honor. Family. Inner peace."

"I have Ceylon, Earl Grey, green tea- either plain, or mixes with mint and puerh, gogi and raspberry, or lemon grass; white tea, jasmine, raspberry and rose hips, yerba mate, yerba mate with cocoa; and a rose hip, passionflower and verbena blend," Mercedes offered from the kitchen as she glanced over the various containers and boxes of loose leaf or bagged tea.

Mercedes also had a number of tinctures, herbs and teas on another shelf in the china cabinet for treating various illnesses or complaints, but those were generally not offered to company to drink as they were medicinal and their flavor wasn't nearly as enjoyable. She had been using those to help keep the pain in her ribs manageable and to promote proper healing after the initial drinking the night of the injury.

"Earl Grey will be fine," Alucard said, now at the arched entryway between the living room and kitchen.

Mercedes had sensed his movement, so she didn't jump in a startled fashion at the closer proximity while her back had been turned. "I am out of lemons."

"I prefer tea black."

Mercedes nodded. "That works then." She grabbed the tin container of Earl Grey, filled the teapot with water and set it on the stove to heat. She pulled tea cups and saucers from the china cabinet built into a wall in the kitchen and set them out with the tea diffuser. The full porcelain dinner set, imported from Italy and etched with gold, was a gift from her grandmother, who insisted that Mercedes needed a proper set for serving company. If her grandmother ever found out the set had been used to serve a vampire tea, she'd likely have died from a heart attack. The chore of setting things out done, and trying not to laugh at the thought of her grandmother's possible reaction, Mercedes leaned against the counter next to the stove and waited for the water to be ready.

After a minute of uncertain silence from Mercedes, Alucard nodded to the katana. "Do you have training in using such weapons or are they simply for show?"

"I know how to use those and rapiers," Mercedes replied with a small proud smirk, though her tone was mostly neutral. "Along with the staff in the corner and a few other weapons."

"Part of your self-defense training from friends?"

"Rapier was professional fencing lessons when I was growing up. Staff and katana were lessons for some years in high school from a friend and classmate's Buddhist parents who were quite skilled in them. I had further lessons with katana, wakizashi and tanto later on from another friend, as the fighting style suits my martial strengths well; I'm clearly not built for the hack-and-slash of western weaponry. Daggers and other small hand to hand weapons have been from a couple of martial artist friends who were trained in those."

"Interesting choice in styles," Alucard said, tone still impartial despite his words.

"I like variety," Mercedes replied with a shrug.

"It doesn't hurt to have a range of training," the progenitor of vampires agreed. "Do you only have training in melee weaponry or do you also know how to use firearms?"

"I've had a couple lessons with hand guns from my ex-husband and a friend of my best friend, but I really don't care for them. I'm a much better shot with a compound bow than I am with a firearm."

"Was the bow more training from friends?"

"No. It was also lessons when I was growing up, from family and a tutor. And I used to go hunting _avec mes_ _cousins et oncles_ , so I got pretty good at it."

"Unusual choice of lessons for a child."

" _Ma mère's_ family is French nobility," Mercedes said with a shrug. "Though my immediate family currently lives in The States and such a thing as nobility is legally no longer acknowledged in France beyond a title to add to the end of one's name. Despite being born here, I had all sorts of lessons, not just martial, that my family considered par for the course in a proper upbringing. Private schools, etiquette and language tutors; horseback riding, dancing, art and music lessons; hunting, sports and martial lessons- pretty much the whole shebang. Though some classes proved to be more satisfactory in my performance than others, and the martial and hunting lessons were more my insistence as I used to be quite the tomboy from growing up as the only female in my generation and wanting to do what all _mes cousins_ were doing."

Alucard raised an eyebrow as the young woman spoke such statements nonchalantly, almost with a hint of disdain.

"Is something the matter, Alucard?" Mercedes asked, having difficulty repressing a smirk because she had a feeling she knew what the vampire was raising an eyebrow to.

"Your family is nobility?" Alucard asked incredulously.

"And yet I live in a one bedroom apartment in an almost-ghetto in Philly, working as a bartender and belly dancer to support my son as I'm a single mother. _Oui_. Much to _ma grandmère's_ oft-expressed indignation at the seeming scandal," Mercedes confirmed glibly. Having heard people's shock or disbelief before at that little revelation if they only knew her current circumstances and she for some reason decided to tell them about her family, she had become well used to such reactions. "I'm a dual citizen of the US and France, something _ma mère_ insisted on to _mon père_ when I was born. And unlike most Americans who make such a claim of noble blood, my family's titles are not ones that were barely worth acknowledging to begin with, and were granted and subsequently lost dozens of generations and hundreds of years ago. _Mon_ _grandpère est Francis Dreux-Brézé, Marquis de Brézé. Ma grandmère est Annabelle Dreux-Brézé, la fille de Alexandre de l'Estourbeillon, Marquis de la Garnache._ "

Mercedes gave a parody of a graceful curtsy, owing to the fact she was currently wearing her black and red checkered pajama pants. "And, your majesty, _as ma tant_ married someone with a title and does not have children of her own because she is barren, and _ma mère_ is dead, you are speaking with the woman who would be heiress of the archaic title of _Marquise de Brézé_ when _mon grandpère_ passes away, were it not for France's extraordinarily sexist laws regarding inheritance. Though I cannot inherit the title of _Marquise de Brézé_ and it shall become an extinct title unless I remarry to someone with no competing titles and _mon grandpère_ makes my new husband his legal heir, I will be inheriting _mon grandpère_ 's estates and all else that come with it, and therefore most of _mon grandpère_ 's peers courteously call me Lady Mercedes on the rare occasions I am dragged to some function _mes grandparents_ insist I attend for maintaining our family's contacts. I would prefer for you to simply continue calling me Mercedes, however, as I clearly do not stand on antiquated formalities."

Mercedes allowed the sarcastic smirk to fully form at Alucard's faintly surprised expression as she rose from the curtsey and met his gaze again, feeling rather amused that she managed to catch the imperious vampire off guard.

The young woman added, gesturing vaguely to the direction of the apartment door, "And that's just the most immediate familial introductions. As I'm sure you're well aware, noble blood lines tend to cross with others the more you trace back the generations. I have some rather interesting distant cousins and ancestors. Though, for the record, none who had conflict with Wallachia and Romania. As the appointed junior family history chronicler for when my second cousin Marie passes away, I have far too many boxes of paperwork packed in my entryway closet if you would like to take a few off my hands as proof to read through for this impromptu questioning. I have the more extensive paperwork in my private climate controlled storage unit, where those eventually need to get moved to after I have the chance to finish sorting through them, and the more important originals are still in France, so you'd almost be doing me a favor."

Alucard, recovered from his brief surprise, chuckled a moment at the cheeky offer. While he had previously noted Mercedes's surname, he had made the mistake of thinking the hyphenated surname was of the nature many modern women (especially in America) had after marrying- combining their maiden names with their husband's surname. It hadn't occurred to him that perhaps the name was in fact her family's name, nor that a bartender in Philadelphia might be of any relation to those in France.

Alucard asked with the barest revealing of curiosity, "I don't think that will be necessary. Is there any particular reason for you own reduced living circumstances given what you say of your family and your future inheritance?"

"I love my family and the sentiment is returned, but I don't agree with a great many of them on a great many things. Until I inherit, I prefer to live my life by my own means so as to be able to live it how I choose." Mercedes gave her standard answer and was glad that the question was not worded nearly as prying or disparaging as she usually received.

The vampire said nothing and the tea kettle started to issue steam not long after.

Mercedes turned off the heat before the whistling could start and wake Xander. She measured out the tea into the diffuser's basket and then poured the water to let it steep a few minutes.

"Where is your son's father? I would guess that would be your ex-husband?" Alucard asked impassively.

"I guess we weren't done playing 20 questions after all," Mercedes said with a small, slightly annoyed, laugh.

"Seemed a natural question to ask for small talk," the vampire replied, tone still impassive.

"I'm not offended," Mercedes replied more stoically. "We were high school sweethearts who made the all too common mistake of getting married young. We divorced shortly after Xander was born and I made sure that I had sole custody of my son. Where exactly my ex-husband is now, I don't know, and I don't particularly care as we're better off without the glorified sperm donor around."

"Not a pleasant divorce then."

"Not at all," Mercedes agreed bluntly. "But our marriage was worse, so I won't complain about the divorce. I, in fact, thank the gods on a regular basis that I live in the United States in modern times where divorce is allowed and I was able to divest myself and my son of his surname at the same time I had the rest of him removed from our lives."

"I see," Alucard said. He nodded to the jewelry stands in the living room. "The jewelry appears to be handmade. Your doing?"

Mercedes nodded to the affirmative. "Yes. A creative pastime of mine that compliments my knowledge of stones and mystical designs."

"Seems a small market you'd have for such work," Alucard pointed out.

Mercedes shrugged to that. "Not so much as you may think. I often don't mention that aspect when in a mundane market. However, there are many pagan pride events in the tri state area, along with Renaissance faires, that such work is a major hit at. It helps keep the bills paid."

She poured the tea when it was sufficiently steeped and handed a cup to the vampire.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome." After a minute of silence, Mercedes asked again, "What is your business here in this neighborhood, Alucard? I don't mean to be offensive, but, from what I hear, things almost always get volatile when you're involved. If you don't want to give details, I won't press for them. If there is something going on in the area, however, I would think it's only fair to let me know at least something of the matter so my son and I don't get accidentally caught in the crossfire."

Alucard gave the human an appraising look for a few seconds as she finished asking for him to explain his actions, again.

Mercedes could tell he was trying to subtly read her mind as she held his gaze.

"If you wish to know something, ask," she stated frankly. "You already know I am a seer and can't lie. I don't appreciate the attempted mind probing when I have thus far given you no reason to distrust me and have in fact been rather cooperative in answering your own questions."

The vampire smirked and the wispy sensation of someone trying to breech the enchantress's mental defenses stopped.

"I am not certain that your neighborhood is involved with what my business is," Alucard said finally, clearly surprising Mercedes with his acquiescence to explain. "But an international organization that hunts down vampires and other beings they deem dangerous to themselves has a base here in Philadelphia and they've been reported to be having increased activity recently. As you have contact with vampires and your own gifts, and seemed to have someone besides myself watching your movements for at least the last few days, I decided to remain in the area to see if the two events are connected and might provide a lead for the former matter."

"An anti-vampire group in Philly?" Mercedes asked.

Alucard nodded once in confirmation.

The tri-state area was home to one of the largest concentrations of vampires in the United States, but Mercedes was only aware of on-going active conflicts between one group and Liam and his community. She also recalled the rather disturbing priest she bumped into this morning and the warning flash she had gotten when that happened. That group mostly operated out of the Archdiocese that was long founded in Philadelphia when they were going to start problems in this area.

Mercedes asked with a fair bit of concern as her mind quickly put pieces together, "You don't happen to mean Iscariot, do you?"

Alucard raised an eyebrow slightly. "And how would you know about Iscariot? Your vampire friends?"

"Yes," Mercedes said briefly. "From what I know, they've tried on a few occasions to break up and run out the vampire community of Philly and the surrounding tristate area, on top of their smaller scale attacks in other parts of the country."

"As it happens, you are correct," Alucard conceded. "Iscariot is the group in mention."

The progenitor of vampires was watching Mercedes with an even more pointed gaze that made her distinctly uncomfortable.

"And so you're remaining in the area to use me as bait in case there is someone associated with Iscariot who has me under surveillance because I happen to have a few connections with the vampire community?"

"That is more or less correct."

"Peachy," Mercedes muttered, giving Alucard a glare for admitting to using her as a lead and bait.

The vampire gave no indication he noticed or was bothered by the glare.

Mercedes asked the following as she hadn't heard from Liam recently that there was any new trouble brewing. "My association with my local vampire friend is not a public happening and, besides him, the others I know in the immediate area are those I know through him. I also go to some lengths to avoid showing my own powers, as you saw in the alley when faced with only human attackers. Don't you think it's a bit of a stretch to link what I may have sensed yesterday to Iscariot?"

"Possibly," Alucard said neutrally. "Can you think of anyone else that would be having you watched and mean you harm?"

Mercedes thought about that quite seriously for a minute and eventually shook her head. "No, not really. My ex-husband has been out of the picture since our divorce. He has not ever made attempts to be otherwise and he knows I'll sic the biggest of my hounds on him were he to try to change that."

Alucard raised an eyebrow and interjected, "Oh? So he's not a potential candidate with such a statement."

"Like I said, bad marriage." Mercedes shrugged, tone remaining fairly neutral. "But we're fully divorced now, which means the seer has no marital promises binding her to play nice. He may have done some incredibly stupid things while we were married, but he's smart enough to know not to come around where he's not welcome and knows he's not a match for my current powers, my weapon skills, my hounds, or my vampire friends. He's not a threat to us and he has more than moved on with his life besides that. He in fact started moving on with his life well before the divorce was even filed. I don't go through friends like air, and I am very careful about who I call friends to begin with, so there's no remotely recent partings. Besides you, I haven't had any stalkers since college."

Alucard again raised an eyebrow, but it was Mercedes's turn to ignore an expression as she continued speaking.

"I stay out of politics and societal circles because I can't stand the constant petty intrigues and invasive media prying, so I have no rivalries with people who would have the resources to have me watched. And while some of my family members and I don't see eye to eye on things, we do still love each other and so we mostly ignore the differences and agree to disagree as my visits home are too short to be filled with pointless hostilities."

"Then Iscariot is just as possible as an unexpected other source if you're being watched," Alucard pointed out stoically.

"So that's why you're undertaking this stake out?" Mercedes asked again because his last answer to the question was far from descriptive.

"I am not in the habit of answering to others for my actions, nor disclosing my plans."

"Well, in the last 48 hours I've been the mouse in a cat and mouse game twice and now I'm apparently the baited worm on a hook," Mercedes said seriously. "Two of said incidents involve you. It would be a courtesy to at least let me know why. And while I'm not some centuries-old vampire king, a gifted worm passing warnings up to the fisherman is certainly more useful than said worm shouting a warning to the fish."

"Are you threatening to tip off Iscariot?" Alucard asked with an unmistakably lethal edge entering his previously neutral voice.

"No. The seer is wisely pointing out that you staying silent is not going to be doing you any favors, Alucard," Mercedes clarified without backing down. "Nor do I wish to have any harm come to the vampires I associate with. I'd also rather not be dead from either side and, as I said, I've heard things can get volatile when you're involved, so knowing what is going on helps me. Why do you think Iscariot would be watching me when there are people with far more direct and public ties to the vampire community here in Philly?"

"As I said, I don't know for certain that they are," Alucard conceded after a few seconds consideration, deciding the pros may outweigh the cons in discussing the matter with the human who was native to this country and knew the local vampiric dynamics. "But someone is apparently watching you, and you have powers and connections to the vampire community, so it is a fairly safe bet that it is Iscariot." Disdain crept into the vampire's voice as he continued. "When it comes to fanatics like Iscariot, I don't put much past them and their ambitions to put all beneath their heel and destroy any possible threats to their influence. They have been very careful to protect their agents coming into the Archdiocese recently, and those who go in aren't coming out. I was able to intercept one team on its way to the Archdiocese, but they had no knowledge of why they were being asked to make their trip, simply that their services were required and that they'd be briefed upon arrival. I initially thought all this activity was to be another attempt at a sweep-and-clean, but the team from Iscariot that I caught did not consist of vampire hunters.

"Which does not dismiss my initial theory, but it does raise further questions. This could be a clear chance for me to finally get my hands on an operative who obviously must have some knowledge of what is taking place, as they have been given the objective of observing you for some purpose, barring storming the Archdiocese itself to gain said information. Which has its own amusing prospects, but I'd prefer to know what they're up to in there before I do so. If one of them shows up around here again, I'll be able to finally interrogate someone worthwhile in my own fashion and find out what they're planning."

Mercedes was more than a little concerned with Alucard's tone of voice when he spoke of storming the Archdiocese, as he sounded quite serious (and perversely excited) about doing so. Given the original vampire's reputation, the seer had a pretty good idea how that would end without even needing to try using her gifts- Messy and bloody. She was also rather surprised that Alucard had finally given her such an honest answer to a question.

"The United States isn't usually your territory to be concerned with," Mercedes noted. "Why do you care about what happens in this area?"

"As the first and still reigning king of vampires, anything to do with vampire kind and those who hunt them is my territory," Alucard said flatly, his eyes flashing a slightly brighter shade of red in irritation. "The majority of vampires here are not like some of the base-instinct driven scum I've eliminated within Europe, or the artificial vampires that have cropped up in some places and are a pathetic, insulting imitation of what a vampire truly is. The vampires here in and of themselves don't personally matter to me. But I have my own contacts that keep tabs on this city and the vampires that have formed a community here are far more palatable than some others and are not a complete disgrace to vampire kind. Damage and loss to the more respect worthy vampires leaves space for filth to creep in, flourish, and spread their degradation. Sitting idly in England right now would mean I'd have more of a chore later in eliminating those that are a discredit for my kind if those bastards of Iscariot are planning something and succeed."

"Fair enough reasoning," Mercedes conceded objectively. More than a bit cold, but understandable in a way. As the progenitor of vampires, it wasn't surprising Alucard would be more concerned with the overall standard and survival of his kind than the individuals who may or may not fit into his standards of what was acceptable vampire behavior. It seemed some things didn't change over nearly six hundred years. "I meant no offense by asking, Alucard, and I apologize if my question came off that way. I was just wondering the circumstances to the situation to have a better understanding."

"Indeed," Alucard said stoically. His hellfire gaze peered over the tea cup as he took a small sip. When the fragile porcelain was back on the saucer, he asked, "So, though your contacts with the vampiric community here may not be the deepest known, have you heard of anything that may be causing such activity from Iscariot?"

Mercedes considered that for several seconds, sipping at her tea as well. Finally, she shook her head to the negative. "No, not anything I can think of. The Elders keep a tight lid on anything significant, but there hasn't been any unusual gatherings that I've heard of, nor hints of some sort of special project. There also hasn't been any grumblings of lower ranking vampires causing unusual trouble or over-populating the area. Just the usual holiday mixers and business or publicity meetings to discuss affairs for those who mingle with humans. The vampires here really do try to keep a low profile, and the few in the spot light make a point to keep their natures unknown. They just want to exist as they are, not stir up trouble."

"How likely would you judge it that they could be up to something and you simply haven't heard it, but Iscariot may have?"

"It's always possible," Mercedes said, giving a shrug. "Like I said, Elders keep anything important classified. Only Elders and their spouses know anything of that nature."

"Do you think it possible the Elders and Iscariot could be working together on something, which would account for Iscariot's increased presence in a vampire-controlled city?"

"Hell no," Mercedes said immediately, eyes narrowing and flashing gold.

Alucard raised an ebony eyebrow at the vehement exclamation. "So certain?"

"Yes," the seer said, tone still unyielding. "The Elders have very long memories and after Iscariot's last attacks, there's no way the Elders would ever consider calling a truce with them. Someone even suggests it, I'd wager anything they'd be killed on the spot by the Elders. That's one bridge that was never even built, never mind burned."

Alucard nodded once. "So if this is a looming attack by Iscariot, do you know how the Elders would be likely to respond?"

Mercedes considered how to answer that, gaze narrowing on the Vampire King again. "How do I know that you won't use the information if you develop problems with the Elders?"

Alucard gaze a disdainful chuckle. "If I am given a reason to turn my attention on the Elders at some point in the future, I can assure you that they'd not have the chance to respond."

She considered that for several seconds. Finally, she sighed. "I suppose that's true enough… And it's not a secret to anyone from this country who knows anything about the Elders in even passing. If the Elders did know there was some sort of trouble brewing, they'd engage their standard defensive reaction. Iscariot or another threat shows the possibility of attacking, the Elders and higher ranking vampires consolidate to an undisclosed safe house for planning their moves and bring in everyone they care to see protected, along with known associates who could be used as hostages, to a secondary safe haven. As it happens, I do have a friend in those ranks that would want me and my son secured safely if there was such an emergency, and I've not gotten anyone knocking on my door saying we need to go anywhere. So whatever Iscariot is up to, either the Elders don't feel it has anything to do with them, or they think the fight is still some time off, or they don't feel this is going to come to violence on a large scale if it does hit soon. Beyond that, I have no idea because what they'd actually do to handle Iscariot is far above my privilege to knowledge."

"Hm…" Alucard intoned noncommittally. He finished his tea and set the saucer and cup down on the kitchen counter about a foot away from Mercedes. He held her gaze as he said, "I will be in the city until the situation is resolved, and I will be around this neighborhood at times to try to catch whomever you sensed if they return so I can interrogate them. If you should have a solid indication of something happening, by either your own senses or something said by your vampire associations, lower your mind's barriers and give a mental shout of my name. I will be keeping aware for such a call and I will contact you to find out what you've discovered."

Alucard added in a tone of distinct warning, "Do not, however, mention myself or anything we've discussed tonight to those vampires you know. As I previously stated, I do not generally give explanation for my actions to others. I will not be tolerant of potential interference or jeopardizing actions from the locals in regards to my reconnaissance and subsequent dealing with Iscariot. Refrain likewise from shouting a warning to the catholic fish and I will inform you if I discover more concrete evidence that there are ties to trouble that may be brewing and yourself. Should that be the case, you may do what you like with the information so long as it does not interfere with my business."

"Fair enough," Mercedes agreed soberly, gaze wary on the vampire within arm's reach who could easy snap her in half if he wished to and she didn't react fast enough to bind him.

Alucard nodded and said almost pleasantly, "I have other matters to see to. Thank you for the tea and enjoy the rest of your evening, Mercedes."

"You as well," she said, returning his nod.

Alucard turned and walked right through her kitchen wall that faced the street outside.

'Well that's a time saving trick,' the young woman sarcastically thought.

Mercedes swallowed a laugh that was more a nervous sign of unease that it was apparently that easy for the vampire to enter her apartment if he chose to. As best as she knew, even Liam couldn't pull that one off. Mercedes had seen the Elder move at superhuman speeds and shapeshift into a number of things, but he knocked on a door as any human would or could slip through an open window as fog.

Mercedes decided she needed to speak with Liam (after this was over, so as not to get on Alucard's bad side for going against his demand for secrecy in his current business) and find out if the Elder was aware of any wards that could effectively keep vampires with powers like Alucard's from entering her home at their own discretion. She knew that garlic and roses were not effective as folklore liked to make people believe. Mercedes knew a lot of enchantments, but that was one she didn't already know how to make, and inspiration wasn't hitting her with any options for possible alterations to those enchantments she did know to get the job done.

The young woman finished her tea and prepared for bed. As she did so, Mercedes was sincerely hoping that perhaps she had imagined something nearby her Monday evening. Or that, if something was there, it had nothing to do with her and its presence was merely circumstance. She also hoped, in the same vein of thought, that whatever Alucard was investigating likewise wasn't going to end up getting her dragged along for the conflict.

That's what most of her brain was thinking and hoping.

The smaller more pessimistic side pointed out that her luck had been an absolute lack of it the last 48 hours. And her intuitive side told her not to get her hopes up, this matter was not done by a long shot. The latter side wasn't being forth coming beyond that, however.

Mercedes shoved those two bothersome sides of her mind down into hibernation and eventually fell asleep herself.

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AN: Thank you GirlWhoLovesFanfiction for breaking this fic's review cherry, and for giving such constructive feedback! It is much appreciated and I hope you'll enjoy the direction the characters go in. Decided to post a new chapter a little early as a thank you. I also decided to semi-change Chapter 1 up from how it was before by moving the AN to the end of the Chapter. People could just skim over the entire thing to get to Chapter 2 if they don't want to read it.


	5. Chapter 5 Enemy of My Enemy

Chapter Five

The Enemy of My Enemy…

 _Dawn was barely on the horizon, the first rays of light just starting to enter Mercedes's apartment._

 _Mercedes's front door was broken down in a single blow. Half a dozen men in dark grey tactical suits and black night vision masks, with the symbol of Iscariot emblazoned on the left side of their chests, came streaming into her apartment._

 _The tall blonde priest Mercedes had seen downtown was behind them and following quickly._

 _The priest was speaking, holding two swords in hand in the symbol of the cross, but his words couldn't be heard._

 _Gunfire began before the young woman could even rise to defend herself or attempt anything in reaction. In the span of a heartbeat, a heavy spray of bullets had entered her chest. The force of the bullets entering Mercedes's body caused her to bounce on her bed and her pajamas became soaked in her own rapidly draining blood._

 _The priest was moving into her son's bedroom._

 _The shadowy form of a snake appeared. A being with blood-red glowing eyes, midnight-blue scales, and stretching well over twenty feet long. The snake attempted to wrap itself around the priest, glistening fangs spread wide to bite the priest's head off._

 _But a few quick slashes of the priest's bayonets destroyed the snake utterly. The priest entered the bedroom calmly and approached the bed._

 _The priest raised a sword in prayer and then ran Xander through the neck with it. A dying Mercedes watched in horror, as the other Iscariot members were not blocking her line of sight. They remained in the entryway, guns still leveled on the dying mother as the priest murdered the child._

 _The priest pulled the blade from her son's throat, blood spilling out over the child's stuffed dragon in a spurting stream. The priest left the bedroom and approached Mercedes, who was desperately trying to sit up and lacking the strength to do more than turn partially onto her side._

 _The priest's lips moved in silent benediction, pitiless green eyes staring down at Mercedes as she coughed up a sticky mess of blood onto herself and the bed, and then the bayonet was descending towards her throat._

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Mercedes awoke to tears streaming down her face, her muscles shaking uncontrollably, and her bed sheets kicked away. Her chest felt on fire, a heaviness and sharp pain in several places, as though she had been repeatedly shot with high caliber bullets. Mercedes's throat had pain lancing from the center and she could taste an after-taste of coppery blood that was almost sickening in its pungency.

Mercedes's hands immediately went to her throat by reflex, but there was obviously no injury. She shoved her tangled dark hair out of her face and looked around the apartment in stark terror, expecting at any moment for what she had seen to come to pass.

All was silent and it was pitch black outside.

Mercedes was not the least reassured in her panicked mind frame and bolted from her bed, stumbling as she ran from the force of her shaking, stocking covered feet sliding on the hard wood floor, and pushed open the door to her son's room. The young mother could see her son's little raven-haired head peeking out of the blankets, his back currently towards her, and she could hear his little snores resounding peacefully.

Mercedes slumped against the doorframe, chest and throat still aching. She began to cry silently in equal parts relief for the momentary wellbeing, and terror for its transitory state.

Mercedes almost never dreamed. When she did, it was invariably a vision.

And, more times than not, the seer was unable to change what she saw of the future.

Mercedes managed to somewhat pull herself back together after a few minutes. She began racing through the vision in her mind, trying to find clues as to when it took place. She had only seen the inside of her apartment, so there was little to go off of. She looked the same as she always did, and her son hadn't appeared to be aged from how he currently was. The only difference between this moment and her dream was she and her son had been in different clothing than they currently were.

Which meant it could be anywhere from tomorrow night to a few months in the future.

Mercedes was failing in her attempts to control the shaking of her muscles, a side effect of having had a vision, not from the fear itself of what she saw. Though, the terror currently racing through her would have been enough to cause the reaction as well.

The vision still repeating in her mind, the lingering ethereal pains of her future injuries still radiating in her chest and throat, though the latter was slowly receding, Mercedes tried to concentrate on how to stop the horrific event from happening.

Usually her visions were of other people and places. Rarely were they of herself. She had never had a vision of her son dying.

Given the circumstances, Mercedes was having a hard time keeping her thought processes linear and it took several minutes for her to think even basic matters through. As much as she didn't want to do it, as it went in direct opposition to her disposition that demanded to retain independence, Mercedes could only come to one conclusion if she was going to avoid what she saw from coming to pass: She was going to need help.

Mercedes had the strong gut feeling her family's connections would be useless in this situation and running to them would only get those family members she went to killed alongside her. It was a strong enough feeling that the seer dared not discard it under the circumstances.

That option quickly dismissed, she considered calling Liam. Mercedes eventually dismissed that idea after a longer debate with herself, ultimately deciding so because she didn't want to place Liam in a danger he wasn't already involved in. The Elder vampire was always telling her to call if she needed anything, and Mercedes had absolutely no doubts he would try to protect her and Xander as best as he could, but she didn't think even a vampire as old as Liam could handle all the men she saw in her vision.

Or, more specifically, not the priest that had given her such a strong impression of danger and could apparently turn Shadowsnake into demonic sushi with so little effort that it seemed the familiar was nothing more substantial than air. Shadowsnake was on the low end of the demonic familiar scale, but even still, he shouldn't have been that easily killed.

Iscariot had last targeted Liam three decades or so ago. Though he and many of his immediate circle of fellow Elders had survived, several of the others died during that exchange. And she knew leaping advances in technology since then were on Iscariot's side…

'But there might be one vampire, already involved with this mess, who might be able to handle Iscariot and that priest,' Mercedes thought to herself in French. 'As Liam had said, the progenitor of vampires is a fighter not a lover. Alucard makes it his business to fight against Iscariot.'

Mercedes sighed and shook her head in frustration, dismissing that idea. Placing her and her son's lives in that homicidal vampire's hands was nearly as bad as waiting for her vision to come to pass.

Mercedes continued to go over the options of what to do, including trying to run. She contemplated again calling Liam and asking for his aid towards that end goal. Mercedes knew Liam well enough, though, to know the Elder wouldn't accept the idea of running with them from a threat. He'd go straight for the priest himself to eliminate the possibility of the threat, both for the present and in the future. The thought of Iscariot finishing what they started decades before and killing Liam in place of, or as well as, her son and herself kept Mercedes from making the call to the Elder vampire. She had suffered a lot of losses in the last few years and she honestly didn't think she could live with the additional guilt of Liam's death on her conscious if it came to pass and she somehow survived when he hadn't.

But she also couldn't just let her son be murdered and she knew she couldn't defend him on her own. With the vision of her son dying repeating itself in her mind, it was enough to push the desperate mother to consider desperate measures.

'Alucard might be an undeniable homicidal vampire, but that may be the only thing that can handle this sort of situation without us ending up dead,' Mercedes argued with herself, still thinking in French. 'And while Liam and the other Elders have made mention of his more infamous sadistic bloodshed incidents, he does seem to have his own sort of honor code as he let me survive the last couple conversations we've had as he said he would. He was also willing to divulge some information as to his business here and what he had learned thus far…'

Mercedes looked at her bookshelves- specifically certain books on fifteenth-century Wallachia and conflicts with the Turks, and certain biographies on the entity in question- deep in thought.

'And history shows that in his human life Alucard did undeniably horrific things, but also committed a great many acts that bettered his war-torn country and could be generous with his people if they obeyed his laws. Not to mention was a brilliant strategist against overwhelming odds, if absolutely ruthless in said strategies… Maybe since Iscariot is gunning for us both, and I haven't personally done anything against him, he'd be willing to work together beyond a few exchanges of information… At least stopping Iscariot from killing us would give him operatives to 'interrogate'. Either that, or I'm way off in my estimation and Xander and I could both be dead by the end of the night by his hands because he sees some benefit in doing so…'

The young woman sighed and shook her head. She thought in English, 'Either way, 'Hello rock. Hello hard place. Please don't let us get squashed between you two'.'

Mercedes decided she'd try speaking with Alucard. If he wasn't willing to try helping the situation, she'd consider again the option of calling Liam and try to talk the Elder into helping her and Xander get out of Iscariot's reach somehow without putting himself in unneeded danger. If Alucard decided to make a serious move to attack her, she'd immobilize him and then definitely call Liam for backup. And hopefully Liam really had learned his lesson about misplacing his phone and would answer if she did need make such an emergency call.

That decided, Mercedes stood on still shaking legs, closed Xander's bedroom door, and sat on one of the chairs in the living room. After a few uncertain seconds, she was able to get her thoughts in order enough to lower her mental barriers. She couldn't sense the telltale whispery sensation of a vampire monitoring her mind, so she wasn't sure how Alucard would hear a mental summons from her.

'Alucard!' The enchantress let out the mental shout as she pictured in her mind the vampire in question. She put as much of her energy as she could into making the thought carry and hoped the progenitor of vampires' psychic senses would be strong enough to hear her from wherever he was. Or at least sense her energy aimed in his direction, if her energy managed to reach wherever he was, and come investigate when he recognized the source. Immediately after letting out the mental call, she placed the barrier back up in her mind to protect it.

Mercedes only had to wait a minute before her wondering if Alucard would hear the call was answered. The seer could sense the vampire's unmistakable energy approaching swiftly.

And there was a clear outpouring of unbridled rage, like lightning crackling before a storm hit. The vampire's intense anger literally filled the air with its electric-like static before he had even arrived and it was enough to make the empath have an instant headache.

Mercedes wasn't sure why Alucard was so angry. She only had a brief time to wonder if she may have interrupted something important with her call, or if he was furious about something else and she just had really bad timing.

Why ever the sire of vampires was angry, the young woman had to fight the instinctual urge to grab her son and run in terror as she sensed that fury darting towards them. She had called him, after all, and she knew she couldn't run near far or fast enough to escape with as fast as he was moving.

Alucard phased through a wall of Mercedes's living room, not far from where he had exited earlier. He came to a halt that was both abrupt yet graceful just a few feet in front of her, shadowy form becoming fully corporeal once more, and glared at her with his blazing red eyes. The vampire's tall figure loomed over the woman sitting on the chair and she had to look up at a sharp angle to meet his furious gaze. Alucard was surrounded by that shadowy energy again, energy filled with dozens upon dozens of pairs of fiery eyes and snarling teeth, his crimson energy running through the shadows like a raging river of blood.

"I've been gone barely two hours and now I hear your voice resounding in my head! Do you realize how loud you shout?!" Alucard demanded viciously, causing Mercedes to visibly flinch in fear. "For someone who claims she isn't a telepath, you certainly can make your voice carry! I'm seconds away from consuming you to avoid such an experience ever taking place again, so you had better hope this was worth calling me in such a manner and explain yourself quickly!"

" _Je suis désolé!_ It's not like I go making mental calls to vampires every day!" Mercedes snapped back with a fair bit more ferocity than she usually used, struggling to keep herself from breaking down into tears again. "I couldn't sense you monitoring my mind, nor had any idea where you might be or how easily you'd be able to hear me, and I didn't know exactly how much energy or thought was needed to make the effort! It was not without cause!"

Alucard raised an eyebrow at the human's tone and his hellfire gaze swept over her. He finally took note that her muscles from neck to toe were trembling with almost constant small spasms. Her eyes were somewhat dilated with fear and he could smell that fear permeating the air. Sweat was beaded on her forehead and neck as though suffering from a high fever, yet he could sense her body temperature was normal. She was also as pale as one suffering from extreme blood loss or exposure to prolonged cold.

"You appear to be in a great deal of distress," Alucard commented, his glower not lessening, "but clearly nothing has taken place here."

"No, not yet," Mercedes said, managing to answer in a quieter and less confrontational voice as she continued trying to keep her emotions in check. "But it will be."

Alucard's gaze became more intense as he watched her. Mercedes noticed his shaggy hair was several inches longer than usual, almost touching the collar of his duster and more wavy with the added length, the bangs still only just falling in his eyes though.

"And what do you mean by that?" the progenitor of vampires asked with an icy edge to his voice. He immediately wondered if he had just been lured into an attempt at a trap. She seemed to genuinely be in no condition to spring such a trap, magical abilities or no, but it could perhaps be one laid by Iscariot, using the same idea he had of having the human as live bait for the enemy. Her next words, however, weren't exactly what he was expecting to hear.

"I had a vision."

Alucard blinked once, his only indication of surprise. "Of?"

"Iscariot. Coming here and killing Xander and I quite thoroughly," Mercedes said shakily as the vision continued to replay itself in her head and she concentrated on it again.

"How do you know it was Iscariot?"

Alucard's attention was now forceful enough to make Mercedes feel pinned to the chair, though he wasn't actually exercising his powers on her. The vampire simply was that adept at delivering the kind of piercing and threatening stares that made the recipient feel as though they were some miniscule organism being viewed under a microscope that was one wrong move away from being eliminated with an extra strength dose of sterilization agents.

"The symbols I saw on their gear," Mercedes explained quickly, fear of the vampire causing harm outweighing fear of the vision itself. "The local vampire friend of mine, Liam, has an older version of one of their suits from when one of their teams attempted to kill him and his a few decades ago. Suit has changed, but the symbol hasn't. And they had a psychotic sword-wielding priest with them. I recognize him, sans the bayonets, from accidentally bumping into him yesterday while downtown school shopping for Xander. He sent my senses on edge with warning signs to begin with."

Alucard said nothing.

Mercedes added defensively, "If you don't want to accept my word on it, Alucard, you can see it for yourself. I still have the vision going through my head like CNN Sports replaying the ultimate failed pass of the decade. Shouldn't be hard for you to go in my head to pick up the signal and view the highlights."

Fear was pushing the young woman to be more sarcastic than she usually was, her mind trying desperately to keep from breaking down again. Even if the entity she was snapping at had the ability to do even worse than what her vision had showed her and was already irritated with her for apparently sounding a metaphysical foghorn in his head.

"It might be beneficial if I did," the vampire agreed coldly.

"Your vote of confidence and trust is overwhelming, let me tell you." Mercedes managed to stop herself before saying anything else, but she saw Alucard's eyes flare with anger. She was now deeply regretting both the sarcastic words and calling the progenitor of vampires in the first place.

"You know, you impudent human, if you're expecting any help to stop this vision of yours, which I am wagering you were as you called for me, I need to know what you saw," Alucard snapped back at her with a clear dangerous edge back in his voice. "You didn't react nearly this frightened, bordering irrationally reckless, when I had you pinned to a wall by your throat. Even if you didn't know exactly who I was, most would have been cowering and frozen with fear with a vampire raging in their face. Obviously something significant has caused this reaction and, as it involves Iscariot, I'm willing to hear you out despite the dangers of listening to a shrill fucking siren such as yourself!"

Mercedes looked at Alucard in surprise. Surprise that he hadn't already killed her and surprise that he apparently did believe she had a vision.

Alucard raised an eyebrow and gave her an ominous, impatient look. "Well? Do you plan to waste more time or may I see the vision you had so I know what it is that Iscariot is about to do? I could simply drain you now and see the vision that way if you're only going to stare at me like a lack wit."

Mercedes decided not to comment further and simply nodded.

Alucard removed his glasses and held Mercedes's gaze. She could sense the vampire attempting to read her mind as his eyes flared with inner flames again. Mercedes allowed herself to concentrate on those flickering, changing colors in his eyes and opened up her thoughts so he could see the vision for himself. She could feel the vampire retreating from her mind after what she would guess was half a minute or so passing.

Alucard's eyes became their usual red hue, he didn't replace the glasses, and outwardly his expression didn't change. The demonic imbued shadows that had been surrounding him, however, retreated. His hair was also shifting back to its usual shorter state.

"Seems you truly did sense something the other day after all," Alucard stated with a bit less anger than before.

"And you were right about it being connected to Iscariot," Mercedes conceded. The young woman pulled her knees up to her chest and propped an elbow on her knee so she could rest her head in her hand and take a steady count of breaths to help calm her shot nerves.

"Do you know when this event you saw is supposed to take place?"

Mercedes shook her head. " _Je ne sais pas_. Your guess is as good as mine as there's nothing in it with an indicator of date. Xander looks the same as he does now, and everything else looks just about the same. Usually my visions happen somewhere between a day and a few weeks, but sometimes they're a few months prior to something happening."

"Useful gift you have," Alucard noted.

Mercedes glared up at the vampire. "Insanity making is more like it. You try having knowledge of some catastrophe striking or people dying, which sometimes includes loved ones, well before it happens and trying to stop it from taking place."

"At least you have the distant forewarning to make the attempt," Alucard pointed out, unmoved by her frustration.

"Yes, well, when I fail to stop a vision it only makes it that much worse because I did have the warning and still they die," Mercedes said vehemently.

"How often are you able to change the outcome of your visions?"

"Depends on what you mean by 'change'," was Mercedes's bitter and rueful reply. "Using an example like this vision where someone dies- If for some reason I was unable to reach them in time, then it happens exactly as I see. If I can reach them, and there are factors they can control in an attack, they may avoid triggering what caused the attack. Or they may live or they may die in the fight. But it obviously won't play out the same way I saw. If they try to deviate from the vision entirely, say try leaving the scene and not return, then it won't play out the same at all. But that doesn't mean the attackers won't hunt them down and kill them elsewhere. Or they may find someplace that's safe and avoid being killed. But, as a general rule, the ultimate outcome of my visions ends up being about the same."

Mercedes held back a self-mocking laugh and added, "If we survive this, I really need to get a digital clock for every room with the date also displayed in big bright letters so that if I ever have another vision of us dying in our own apartment I at least have a better idea of when it's happening."

"Would have been useful to have that knowledge," Alucard agreed. "But, as it is, your vision showed enough."

"How do you figure that?"

"The 'psychotic sword-wielding priest' is Alexander Anderson," Alucard stated. "He is Iscariot's favorite pet and their overused method of dealing with opposition. If Anderson's involved, it won't take long for him to show himself. He isn't a dog who likes to wait when he feels he has work to do in the name of his god. You ran into him earlier, so he's stateside already. He won't be inclined to sit idle here."

"Cheery," was Mercedes's deadpan response.

"He usually works alone though," Alucard said contemplatively. "That there were others sent with him, especially to simply kill two humans, is unprecedented. How were you able to summon the snake familiar that tried to attack Anderson when you were already half dead?"

"I didn't summon it," Mercedes said flatly. "My daimonic familiars are dogs, as you know."

Alucard glanced in the direction of the child's room, where Mercedes's gaze had subconsciously flickered to for a split second. "You don't seriously expect me to believe the boy summoned it?" the progenitor of vampires asked in open disbelief. "He was deep asleep when the attack began and only beginning to awaken when Anderson approached his room. Never mind the fact that he is a small child."

"Shadowsnake tends to come and go from this plane of existence as he pleases right now," Mercedes replied reluctantly. "Regardless of whether my son is awake or not. Xander hasn't gotten strong enough to fully control his familiar yet and their connection to one another allows Shadowsnake to do so."

"How is a boy that young able to summon a familiar and maintain a constant connection?" Alucard demanded with narrowed eyes.

"He inherited some of mommy's talents," the enchantress said sarcastically, shaking her head in frustration.

"And how exactly do you have those talents?" Alucard wasn't about to let this subject pass without getting the full answers he wanted. His sharp tone of voice made it clear to Mercedes that she had better stop with the vague answers as she was trying his patience.

"I was born with some, like the visions and empathy," she clarified after a few seconds of silence, tone faintly disdainful. "And while some heiresses busy themselves with parties and pop culture, blowing their cash on clothes and the latest electronics, I have had to spend a great deal of my time training and practicing to help me control and develop the talents I have. As you surmised, the gifts I was born with aided those endeavors by allowing me to intuitively know most of the time what would work and what wouldn't, what magical theories documented by others were fact and what was completely useless, as a bit of a short cut in the trial and error learning process. I still had to learn the foundations for enchantment making the old fashioned way with study, but once I knew the basics my gifts were able to guide me. Sometimes I simply have a need to accomplish something and will suddenly know exactly what magical method will work and is in my capability of doing.

"Xander seems to have inherited my empathy at the least, though it's minor right now, and while he has thankfully never had a vision, he is fairly intuitive. He's also sensitive to energy being used. He often notices when an enchantment is being cast if he is awake and an active effort to hide such isn't being made. He picked up on my summoning on a few occasions and decided to try it out himself. He succeeded in summoning Shadowsnake, as he named him, by instinct when he was having a nightmare and wanted something to 'eat' the nightmares so he could sleep peacefully."

"That is probably the most domestic use of a summoned demon I have heard in my entire existence," Alucard said, not sounding exactly amused, nor entirely upset, with it.

Mercedes held back a nervous laugh and said, "I suppose it is in the running for that award. I've been trying to train him, as best as a five year old can be trained, to have greater self-control so Shadowsnake serves him rather than run loose. Xander also knows he's not allowed to summon anything else until I tell him otherwise. I can give Shadowsnake limited orders, or destroy him, but even without Xander having had proper protective enchantments when he first summoned Shadowsnake, Shadowsnake has taken to his protect-Xander duties well enough and has listened to my son from the start, so I leave him to Xander's instructions most of the time."

Alucard glanced in the direction of the child's room again, deep in thought for several seconds. "Even still, that large number of operatives being sent when Anderson is already involved is unusual for Iscariot. As your vision showed, Anderson was easily able to destroy your son's familiar and could have killed you both without aid from the grunts. The priest is capable of blessing his blades to be all the more effective in killing vampires or their familiars, and making vampiric regeneration difficult, and he occasionally pulls out enchantments to hinder vampiric powers like summoning familiars or shifting one's form. The church's dog hasn't been able to kill me, but his blades do hurt when they hit and are harder wounds to heal for even one of my abilities. Anderson alone would have been enough to handle you two."

" _Je ne sais pas_ , Alucard. I just have the visions," Mercedes said defensively, slipping into a slight French accent, rolling 'R's and dropping 'H's at the beginnings of words, as stress began to build again. "Even with the other aspects of being a seer, don't expect me to be able to give a detailed report on what is going on in the heads of a crazy religious organization or know how everything built up to the event happening. Even for someone like me, _c'est impossible_. And as you saw in the alley, I try to handle problems in a mundane fashion to avoid drawing attention to the fact I'm not exactly normal. I had no desire to have something exactly like this happening to _mon fil et moi_. I work, I come home and take care of Xander, and then I repeat said routine. I spend what little free time I have training, gaming, doing art projects, hanging out _avec_ my human best friend, _ou avec_ some of _mes vampire copains_ in discreet fashions. I don't go flaunting my powers _ou_ making it a mission to get on crazy people's bad sides. I have no clue why they're planning to come blazing in like they will be."

"Well, then let's talk about what needs be done to change the outcome of your vision and get some answers to both of our questions," Alucard replied calmly.

Mercedes sighed and then nodded.

"You said you have seen Anderson before?"

"Yesterday, _après midi_ ," Mercedes reverted further into French mode as she thought about the conversation with her grandmother and the subsequent run in with Anderson. "I was downtown, _sur mon chemin_ into China Town _pour déjeuner après_ doing some shopping _et_ was on _le phone avec ma grandmère_ …"

Mercedes noticed Alucard's raised eyebrow and paused, wondering why he was looking at her like that. She finally realized what she was doing and shook her head with a frustrated sigh.

"Do I need to repeat that sans the French?"

" _Je comprends le Français, mais je n'aime pas entendre_ ," Alucard said with a perfect French accent, though his dislike of the language was quite evident by his tone.

" _Îmi pare rặu?"_ Mercedes offered the apology in the vampire's native language of Romanian with a contrite smile.

Alucard raised an eyebrow at her again but after a moment he gave a nod.

Mercedes made a mental notation to try to avoid speaking French in front of the vampire. She made a strong effort to keep her speech in an American accent, which she had thankfully gotten good at switching between since moving to Philadelphia, as she continued her interrupted explanation. "As I was saying, I was on the phone. I bumped into the priest on accident, got a flash of massive rage from him, and little mental warning bells began screaming 'Danger Will Robinson!' He gave me a rather unfriendly look as I apologized for bumping into him. I was actually quite polite in how I apologized, especially as I was on the phone with my grandmother and she would have torn into me like a rabid bulldog for being anything less than such with a priest. He noticed _ma_ _mère_ ' _s_ prayer pendants that I keep on my purse, looked a little less pissed, and said 'Go with God, child' or 'God be with you, child' or some sanctimonious bullshit like that. I thanked him, then Xander asked why I called him father, I told him because he was a priest like the one the little guy knows back home, trying to hurry him along. Xander asked the priest why he wore different robes than 'Father Baldy' and the priest told him he was a different kind of priest." Mercedes let out a displeased snort of laughter as she shook her head ruefully. "No shit, right? And then I wished him a good day again and I continued on my way with Xander to grab our lunch. Which was, in case you're curious, quite delicious as it was sans the holy sacrament of steel and blood." Mercedes was feeling a great deal less respectful of the Catholic priest after having had a vision of him killing her son and herself.

"That was all that took place?" Alucard asked stoically.

"Yes, Alucard. That was all that happened," Mercedes said wearily, resting her chin on her hand again. "It's not like I went dancing up to him in a pointed hat with my face painted green, waving a wand in his face and chanting 'Hocus pocus and alakazam, the devil take you holy man!'"

Alucard laughed, a rather disturbing laugh despite its brevity, and looked at Mercedes with an openly amused expression.

"What?" Mercedes asked indignantly, though she gave a small smile. "It's been a rough week. I gotta crack a few jokes or I'm going to cry and then I'm really going to be useless in helping figure out this situation."

Alucard shook his head, amused expression lessening but not disappearing. "I don't tolerate crying, and I will drain you without hesitation should you start, so make your jokes if you must. Can you tell if what you sensed the evening before on your way to work was Anderson?"

Mercedes paused and tried to recall the energy from a few days ago and the energy off the priest.

"It's possible?" Mercedes said uncertainly. "I only caught a brief flash of whomever was watching me the other evening. I didn't get a chance to investigate it in depth or even tell if it was human or not."

"Anderson hardly falls into the category of human these days, and he normally would have attacked then and there, rather than retreat," Alucard commented, tone contemplative once more. "But if it wasn't the church's dog, it may have been someone else working for Iscariot who has more patience for intel work. Though I'm not aware of them having any other abnormal agents who are still alive, so that is uncertain." Alucard looked at the blades Mercedes had on the wall. "Can you really use those with any skill for a human?"

"Yes," Mercedes said, feeling slightly insulted by the question. "I had four years of twice-weekly lessons in using those. Those training me then were old school Buddhists and didn't believe in pulling their hits with the kendo swords during training so as to teach you the proper way to fight even faster. I also had a couple years of lessons on a less frequent, but individually longer, basis later on from a vampire who was a master with a katana."

Mercedes ignored the raised eyebrow Alucard gave to that statement and continued, "My rapier lessons were for three years. I've had informal training in smaller hand-to-hand weapons for the last six years from various teachers, human and vampire friends with such skills, and I have a few friends that I occasionally spar with in our free time to keep up on my fighting skills. I've had to use my katana against a real opponent twice, vampires, and I live to tell the tale, so it's fair to say I did my sensei justice. But, in all fairness, I have never faced multiple professional attackers armed with guns and dressed in protective suits, nor an operative of Iscariot with holy powers like you're describing Anderson to have."

"And not much training with a gun?" was all Alucard decided to ask for the moment.

"I'm a good shot with a paintball gun, but I fully realize that doesn't count," Mercedes said frankly. "I went a few times to a practice range to shoot a handgun and rifle and I only managed to make the target about half the time from 50 feet away. I was by no means hitting the bull's-eye when I did hit the target. If I owned a gun, I could avoid shooting myself in the foot or tearing my hand off at the wrist from the recoil, and probably hit someone ten feet away from me well enough. But I seriously doubt I'd be able to hit unprotected spots in Iscariot's suits and I wouldn't trust myself to not accidentally pick a trajectory to shoot at that could send a bullet ricocheting into Xander's room."

"Fair enough. At least you're not offering false reassurances and bravado."

"Didn't think it'd help matters much to do so," Mercedes said with a sigh, now resting her forehead on her knee wearily.

"Indeed not," Alucard agreed. "Would you open your thoughts again? I need to show you an image of a man and see if you recognize him."

Mercedes's brows furrowed in confusion and she looked at the vampire warily.

Alucard simply gave the human another impatient look.

Mercedes sighed and relented, releasing the barriers protecting her mind enough for the vampire to do as he stated. Alucard placed an image of a thickly muscled red-head in a suit within her mind.

"Recognize him?"

Mercedes thought hard about it and then shook her head to the negative as she closed her thoughts off again. "Never seen him before. I can be downright terrible about remembering names, but I never forget a face. Who is that?"

Alucard didn't answer that and instead pulled out his cell phone and dialed.

"Good evening, Master Alucard."

"Walter, the lead I have on finding out what Iscariot is up to has turned out to be a solid one. Though I don't expect the delay to last past this weekend, place my travel plans on hold for the time being until I advise you otherwise."

"Of course, Master. Is there anything else?"

"Yes. Anderson is in the city, as of at least yesterday afternoon. I want you to find out what you can."

"I will see what I can discover, Master," Walter said, not sounding terribly pleased with the idea of more research to his workload.

"You may place looking into Anderson as a priority, but I still expect the other information I requested to be met by its deadline," Alucard stated definitively.

"Yes, Master Alucard," Walter agreed stoically.

Alucard hung up.

Mercedes was watching the vampire with a raised eyebrow of her own now. "Got your own intel team on standby?" she asked, slightly amused by the exchange.

"My servant who is rather skilled in hacking computers, actually," Alucard answered with a smirk.

"Useful servant to have."

"It's not worth the time to have servants who aren't useful."

"So you've got Jarvis running the databases, now what?"

"Jarvis?" Alucard asked in clear confusion.

"Jarvis? Ironman?" Mercedes asked incredulously.

Alucard continued looking at her without comprehension.

Mercedes sighed. "Forget it. Was a comic book and movie reference and I was attempting to be humorous again."

"You do that quite a bit."

"Like I said, coping mechanism. Not everyone has the capability to wage a war when they're righteously pissed about something." Mercedes pointed that practicality out before she stopped to think about what she was saying and to whom she was saying it to. The young woman immediately shut her mouth and placed the tips of her fingers over her lips, realizing that comment may have been pushing the humor tolerance for the rather volatile Vampire King.

Alucard raised an eyebrow at the flippant remark and Mercedes tried not to cringe as she saw his eyes flare a slightly brighter red.

" _Îmi pare rặu_ , _Domn meu_ …" Mercedes said from behind her hand, fighting back a nervous giggle. "Spend this much time in Philly and around my best friend Val and it will eventually wear off a little, no matter how well-bred a person is."

"A little?"

Mercedes thought she saw a slight smirk pulling at the edges of Alucard's lips as he said those few words. She lowered her hand once certain she wasn't going to giggle.

"Yep. I, at least, will feel remorse and apologize if I make a joke that is a little too off color for the audience, and I can be serious most of the time. Val is downright shameless and unrepentant in her comments, regardless of life-threatening circumstances. Absolutely no filter on her mouth and quite a bit more cursing," Mercedes said honestly. She loved her best friend like a sister, but Val was a character and a half unto her own. "The only person I've met with a worse mouth on them when upset is a vampire who joined our gaming guild online some years ago. It's actually a bit amusing to hear the two of them go at it over guild chat, if quite distracting when making a boss run, but at least Val has a heart of gold despite the big mouth. Jan is just obnoxious and crass most of the time, regardless of his actual mood. If it wasn't for the fact he is the best tank we've got, and his brother is a kickass DPS and a decent guy for a vampire, we'd likely have tossed him out of the guild by now."

"I suppose I should be grateful I'm dealing with a sarcastic but focused American human, rather than a shamelessly unfocused one or the uncouth gamer vampire," Alucard said dryly.

"Things could definitely be worse as far as that's concerned," Mercedes agreed with an entirely insincere seriousness. "At least I have the visions to act as a tip off and can summon familiars."

Alucard gave the human another not-very-amused look that sobered her mood quickly.

"Right… back on topic and hopefully to a conclusion that won't end up with my son and I dead. 'Walter?'" Mercedes clarified. Alucard nodded. "Walter is checking to see if he can find out more information, and you are a bit more briefed on my skills. What now?"

"Now, we set a trap of our own and we wait for the arrogant fools to step into it."


	6. Chapter 6 Is My Ally

Chapter Six

…Is My Ally

Previously:

 _"_ _Right… back on topic and hopefully to a conclusion that won't end up with my son and I dead. 'Walter?'" Mercedes clarified. Alucard nodded. "Walter is checking to see if he can find out more information, and you are a bit more briefed on my skills. What now?"_

 _"_ _Now, we set a trap of our own and we wait for the arrogant fools to step into it."_

.

.

.

.

"Oh no! Do not even suggest that we're the bait again," Mercedes said futilely, immediately knowing by instinct that was where his line of thought was going. "Not with this Anderson character you've already made sound like an impossible to defeat tank unto himself!"

"Fine, I won't suggest it. I'll just tell you. Especially as Anderson is involved, you two will be the bait again," Alucard said bluntly. The vampire sat down on the edge of Mercedes's pull-out bed so he could look her in the eyes without her having to continue to crane her neck at such an angle to meet his gaze. Even with him being able to distort how gravity affected him, and subsequently how his weight affected other things, the mattress's cheap springs creaked a bit and he could feel one of the metal coils through the thin 3-inch mattress. Alucard managed to keep a grimace from his face, but it was rather insulting to think that someone of noble blood slept on such a pathetic bed. Even if Mercedes had too much pride to ask her family for aid, one of them should have insisted on providing better furniture. But that was neither important to this situation, nor his problem to deal with. Iscariot was, and he continued addressing that issue.

"If anything too obviously different is done from your normal routine it may tip Iscariot off and instead of the situation you saw, you may end up in one even worse and without any warning of how it will happen. They're power-hungry extremists, but they're not entirely stupid. It's a pretty clear fact that Iscariot has been watching you, and now you are in their sights as being marked for death. The only questions are why specifically they want you and your son dead and how much they know about you both. They obviously know at least to some extent about your powers, as Anderson is getting involved. It is also clear they know to some extent your connections to the local vampires. Planning to attack at dawn, instead of the dead of night when there's less chances of witnesses or other complications, indicates Iscariot wanted to try to ensure that you were unable to call your vampire friends for aid should you survive their attack long enough to make the attempt. Or if you were able to make the call and any of those vampires are strong enough to survive daylight and come to your aid, they'd still be greatly weakened and easier for Iscariot to kill as well.

"The difference between your vision and how things will play out is that instead of being in the living room and asleep, alone and unarmed, you will be in the bedroom with your son and your own weapons as his second and last line of defense. As you said earlier this evening, you can protect him better if you see an attack coming and you'll have two vantage points to do so if that occurs- your vision, and then the actual attack should they make it through the door. And when the Catholics come barging their way in with their own brand of door-to-door propaganda, I will be the one waiting as the surprise welcoming committee to return the favor in a manner just as difficult to stomach."

"Were you just being humorous?" Mercedes asked in surprise, noticing a smirk once again playing on the vampire's lips.

"I have been known to be so on occasion," Alucard admitted, tone sober once more. "But the plan is serious. I will be discreetly tailing you from a distance when you leave in the evenings for work and on your way back to see if I can discover who may be keeping tabs on you before the attack, and in case the attack does happen in some fashion outside what your vision showed. Otherwise, you should remain here with your son. When Iscariot finally makes their move, I will be waiting to intercept them, catching them by surprise as they meant to catch you, and handle the immediate threat. If it is possible, I will keep the fight out of this apartment entirely so as to minimize the chances of them killing you and your son, or you having to answer difficult questions with authorities after. And in the process I will get another chance to finally kill Anderson and get the answers I want in regards to what they're planning, as I doubt very much that all their activity reported is solely to do with killing a pair of humans while they sleep."

"That's the plan?"

"That's the plan," Alucard confirmed with a smirk returning.

"It's a good plan," Mercedes conceded, returning his smirk with a small smile of her own.

"I thought so." Alucard met Mercedes's gaze with a great deal more serious intensity as he continued speaking. "You had better realize, Seer, that if for some reason one of Iscariot's members get past me for even a few seconds, or they show up here when I am not, especially Anderson, you're going to need to use your lethal means of defense if you're to have the slightest hope of surviving. If they enter, you don't issue fair warnings. You don't hold back your blows. You use what powers you have to the extent you can, without hesitation. The intent to kill had better be first and only in your mind. There is no place for civilities and weaknesses when you're fighting for your life, especially not against Iscariot's dogs. Otherwise you might as well lay down and let them shoot you the moment they walk through the door or invite me to drain you both now so Iscariot doesn't get the satisfaction of whatever it is they're after."

"I'll do what I have to," Mercedes said just as seriously. "I always have. I know the difference between drunks trying to jump me in an alley and armed men breaking in to kill." She thought that the vampire seemed to consider her response, which was better than an immediate, bordering insulting, response, and then he nodded once.

"You had better hope so, otherwise the only one walking away from this will be myself," Alucard said with brutal honesty. He paused and frowned.

Mercedes could sense a spike in aggravation along with his anger as he added moodily, "And perhaps Anderson, as he has a rather annoying habit of making hasty, magically powered, retreats just as I'm about to send him back to his damnable creator."

"That is immensely reassuring," Mercedes said dryly.

"I don't believe in false optimism," Alucard said sharply and condescendingly. "If you want reassuring, Lady Mercedes, go back to sleep and hope for a pleasant dream to carry you over until your death arrives. If you want a chance at surviving the week, you accept reality and fight accordingly."

"Fair enough," Mercedes conceded quickly and quietly in an attempt to placate the temperamental vampire.

"How quickly can you summon your own hound or hounds?" Alucard asked, tone less pointed and more back-to-business.

Mercedes concentrated, her eyes flashed golden as she made swift, precise movements with a hand.

A few seconds later dark shadows were swirling around her and began quickly forming into four corporeal hell hounds. Unlike Alucard's hound, which had two sets of four eyes in a slanted row on either side of its face where normal eyes would be, Mercedes's hounds had the two normal eyes and then a row of three across their foreheads.

All four demonic dogs were looking at Alucard warily, much as his hell hound had reacted to Mercedes once she summoned her energy to a noticeable level.

"Almost as quickly as you," Mercedes said with a satisfied smirk. "The biggest is Cerberus," She nodded to the hell hound who was in the entry way and nearly as big as a pony, with a proportionately wide, thickly-muscled structure. Mercedes nodded to one a bit smaller but still the size of a wolfhound, with a pronounced mane of fur around its head, "The one with the torc of fur is Hades and the littler ones are Athene and Artemis." Mercedes nodded to the last two. Athene was closest to her and the size of a Doberman, but larger in musculature. Artemis was similar size but a slender build like Dobermans.

"You named them?" Alucard asked with a raised eyebrow, giving the demonic dogs a quick look as Mercedes introduced each.

"I got bored one night." Mercedes said dismissively as she scratched behind Athene's ears in response to the hell hound rubbing its spiky-furred black head against her leg. The familiar opened its wide mouth and licked at her mistress's hand, exposing jaws with three rows of razor sharp teeth set in each.

"Should be fast enough to help protect yourself, if you're awake when Iscariot arrives," Alucard said.

"I'm an insomniac bartender and single mother," Mercedes replied dryly. "I'll chug coffee and energy drinks and be awake when they arrive. I've pulled no sleep for four days on a number of occasions over the years. It sucks, but I can pull it off."

"It'll slow your reaction times and stamina to do so," Alucard pointed out.

"So will being dead," Mercedes said sharply. "I'll tough it out."

"Will your dogs actually fight or will they just lick at Anderson and his flunkies?" Alucard asked with a disgusted tone as Athene continued to lick at Mercedes's hand and rub against her.

At the progenitor of vampires' condescending words, all four demonic dogs bared their teeth in his direction, each set of five blood-red eyes narrowing and flaring with hellfire, and their ebony fur took on a dark crimson glow. They did not, however, step forward or otherwise attack the master of their kind.

"Oh, they'll tear throats out, don't doubt that. They are hell hounds," Mercedes smirked again, patting Athene's shoulder with pride in her familiars.

The demonic familiars settled down as their mistress shot each of them a warning look with golden eyes.

Though Mercedes was still technically answering the vampire, her gaze was back on Athene and her voice was rather doting as she added, "They're just a bit affectionate with myself or Xander as they know I'd end their existences entirely if they give me any sort of attitude. Isn't that right, Athene?"

The hell hound snuffed and affectionately licked at her mistress's hand again.

"Is that so?" Alucard asked impassively.

"I used to have five I was capable of summoning," Mercedes said, tone now matter-of-fact, golden-iris eyes back on the vampire. "But one was more stubborn about obeying and decided to growl at Xander. Now, there are four. I can't summon up packs of them like you apparently can from how many shades show up in the energy you summon. I had to bring each up to this plane individually and kind of metaphysically wrestle them into obeying. Especially the first one, Cerberus over there, when I was still sorting through the process and refining the methods. New Daimon Doggy Training is much easier now, the presence of my energy alone is enough to keep a hell hound from attacking, but it's something I have not had the time to do lately and four is generally overkill as it is for any threats that come up."

Alucard was giving Mercedes a strange look she couldn't decipher. Nor could she read what he might be thinking with her empathy, as she was simply getting the same level of perpetual bad-mood the vampire always seemed to have. It only seemed to be briefly broken on occasions by flashes of extreme anger or aggravation, or occasionally sardonic amusement or curiosity.

"What?" Mercedes finally asked in exasperation.

"You are not a normal human, Mercedes," Alucard stated stoically.

"Just starting to realize that are you?" Mercedes jested with a smirk. "Usually it's the gold eyes that give it away first."

"Just because I didn't drain you the night I came across you and you've now summoned your hell hounds, don't think you're safe if you push my temper," Alucard said, an edge to his voice now. "I can destroy them in seconds and you'd be not far behind."

"It never crossed my mind they'd be much use against you, as yours didn't do you much good against me," Mercedes said more seriously. She flicked a wrist and the hell hounds faded back into the ether. A silent gesture to show she wasn't trying to hide behind her hounds out of fear, nor attempting to pick an argument. The irises of her eyes likewise faded back to brown and Mercedes gave a sigh. "Had I thought otherwise, I might have tried to summon them in the alley. Again, just trying to keep my stress levels from going too high. It's not every day I get a vision of my son being murdered and I'm just trying to keep my wits about me. If you want to kill me for coping, Alucard, then go ahead and give it your best shot. I'm well aware I have an extremely low chance of success in stopping you if you sincerely tried."

Alucard looked at her strangely again. "I don't think I'll ever understand human mentality. For someone who doesn't want to die, you have a strange way of showing it."

"What in the hell do you want me to say?!" Mercedes snapped out at the vampire, unable to keep up with his mood swings and frustrated with trying not to say the wrong thing while simultaneously trying not to have a breakdown. "'Oh, please! Please have mercy on me Mr. Vampire King!'? We both know that you wouldn't. In fact, you'd probably kill me even faster just to avoid hearing the groveling. Crying will get me killed. Cracking a few jokes to keep my tenuous hold on sanity will get me killed. Apparently even just being alive and having a few powers or having vampire friends will get me and my son killed by Iscariot, as I honestly can't think of anything I could have ever done otherwise to warrant those _fils des salopes_ coming after me. I didn't ask for you to intervene the other night. Nor did I ask you to start stalking me or my neighborhood. But you've been doing so and at some point you're likely going to try to drain me, or kill me in some other fashion, just because I had the misfortune of simply crossing paths with you.

"Just about a no fucking win situation I'm in and yet I'm doing what I can to try to survive and protect my son. Even being willing to invoke the old adage of 'the enemy of my enemy is my ally' and try working together with a notorious vampire, in fact THE original vampire who set the standard for sociopaths worldwide and has an infamous bloodlust the size of the Mediterranean, if it means handling this clusterfuck with Iscariot! But hell, maybe I was wrong in thinking that you were someone with some sort of honor code of your own and therefore someone I could work with and I'd be better facing Iscariot on my own. So if you want to kill me so badly, Alucard, then just get the attempt over and fucking done, instead of constantly threatening it! I'm sure it'd likely be quicker than bullets to the chest and bleeding out in my bed while they kill my son!"

Mercedes let out a breath of frustration at the end of her furious tirade and glared at the vampire with eyes that were once again shaded gold.

Alucard raised an eyebrow when she finished and smirked. "Feel better, little mouse?" he asked seriously, though sarcastically. "Or do you need another outburst to get anything pent up out of your system before you can refocus like a rational adult?"

Mercedes looked at the vampire almost blankly, quite thunderstruck for several seconds. " _Scuze_?" she finally managed to ask.

"I am most certainly a bloodthirsty and remorseless vampire," Alucard smirked wider, lethally sharp teeth exposed, and his eyes flashed a brighter shade of fiery red. Dark shadows swirled around the room, condensed thickest near the vampire, causing his unnatural eyes to stand out all the more.

Mercedes shivered as the temperature in the apartment dropped several degrees and she began to see her breath in the air. Even sitting on something as common place as her pull-out bed, the vampire still had an unmistakably regal bearing and was absolutely terrifying in that moment. Perhaps the sight was more terrifying, in a way, because he was clearly not an entity that belonged in such a mundane setting, yet he was able to invade even a safe haven such as one's home none the less.

Alucard continued speaking, gaze not deviating from Mercedes's as he leaned in close, invading more of her personal space as she didn't have the ability to press any deeper into the chair she cringed against. "I can promise you everything you've heard about me from your vampire friends is likely true, and that the reality is infinitely and hellishly worse. The blood I've shed in all my years would likely equate to an ocean, rather than the sea. And I will shed and drink countless more leagues of blood, and gladly, to accomplish my aims… But, as it stands, I'm not planning on killing you or your son."

The shadows around the vampire lessened with this pronouncement. Alucard grinned yet wider, expression almost feral, at Mercedes's expression of utter surprise, and he straightened his posture once more.

"Not unless you do something stupid, anyway, and sarcasm to cope doesn't count as stupid," Alucard amended the previous statement. His grin shifted to a smirk and he continued speaking with sardonic bluntness. "I've heard far worse from those soldiers I once commanded or even those servants I have now. I may not appreciate it, but I can understand the purpose it serves. For a human, especially a young human woman, you have courage and tenacity, even in the face of your own death. I can respect that. You have some useful talents. I can use that in this situation with Iscariot. I generally leave those I can respect on some level alive and eat those that don't deserve so much as the air they breathe.

"So, now that you understand you're not under immediate threat of becoming dinner as long as you remain useful, stop snapping at me like a rabid dog and focus on the real and more pressing issue. Especially as the clock is counting down on the unknown timer when the mutual enemy is walking through that door and the people's fates who hang in the balance are yours and your son's, not mine. Otherwise I will reconsider my opinion of your intelligence and usefulness, drain you both and feed your corpses to my hounds, then wait here for Iscariot to show and do the same to them to find out what they are up to."

Mercedes blinked in surprise, realizing Alucard had intentionally baited her into snapping at him again so he could then state such and break some of the tension she obviously had about working with him. She managed to break away from Alucard's gaze and then nodded once. " _D'accord_. Understood and agreed."

Alucard released the energy he had brought into the room, shadows fading away and temperature returning to normal. "Are you able to summon any familiars besides your hounds?" he asked, tone fully serious once more.

"No," Mercedes said. "The hounds are the extent of my familiars right now. I started with them because they are the most useful, even if they are more difficult than most familiars. I had to learn a number of enchantments and train myself to be able to control them properly, which was time consuming in and of itself, and I haven't bothered to extend out to other creatures."

"Smart reasoning, albeit limiting in options for present situation. If you're not in the direct line of Iscariot's guns, your hounds may be enough to take out the main operatives without you needing to resort to hand to hand combat to stay alive. What of your enchantments? Are they capable of doing more than temporarily immobilizing an enemy and blocking senses?"

Rather than answer the question with words, Mercedes glanced to her bookshelf and concentrated. Indigo light, viewable only to those who could see energy, wrapped around a book and with a bit of effort it went flying towards Mercedes's hand, the light releasing once the book was grasped.

"That's too slow to be much help in combat," Alucard stated.

"It was the same technique that got your hand off my throat," Mercedes said pointedly, causing the vampire's eyes to narrow on her as she reminded him of that fact.

Mercedes concentrated on the book and light surrounded it again. She closed her eyes, visualized the book back on the shelf in its proper place, and a few seconds later the book disappeared from her hand and reappeared there. Mercedes opened her eyes and gave a smirk, seeing Alucard's raised eyebrow at the second display.

"It has its smaller uses, as does the second technique I just used. But that's also why I train with my weapons and honing my aim as much as I do. What I can do is an admitted magical knockoff of true telekinesis or teleportation. I'm still learning to control moving objects with a barrier surrounding them and I can only do it on smaller objects. The latter only works on inanimate objects so far and I only just started to learn the technique in the last year with not much time to practice it. Also, I've never tried to use a barrier to immobilize a human, so I'm not sure if it would work, even with alteration. It was meant to be used on vampires."

"Important facts to plan around," Alucard replied. "Do you think you would be able to pull or move weapons out of the operatives' hands?"

"It's possible," Mercedes said uncertainly. "Depending on if I can catch them off guard and whether or not I'm fighting others. It takes concentration to do so and it would be especially harder if they're in another room and I can only aim by using my psychic senses rather than my eyes."

"Then only do so if one slips past me but has not yet reached you yet," Alucard said. "And don't bother trying it on Anderson. He has more bayonets on hand than one would think physically possible thanks to his magical tricks, he's about as fast as the average vampire and been extensively trained in melee combat, and will throw swords as well as fight with them hand-to-hand. It would be a waste of your limited time and energy and you don't want your eyes closed for even a second around him."

"Any suggestions on how to defend myself against Anderson if he's the one who makes it past you, or if they show up when you're not here?" Mercedes asked. She was sincerely hoping Alucard would have advice as Anderson had made her nervous enough when she bumped into him. Hearing more about him was not doing anything for her confidence in being able to survive facing him.

"Try once to see if your barrier will immobilize him, have all four of your hounds simultaneously attacking him, attempt to deflect his weapons as best as you can, and aim to kill as fast as you can," Alucard advised, giving straight forward tactical advice suited for the human, rather than suggesting the usual taunting battle tactics he himself employed to toy with and enrage Anderson to cloud the priest's thinking. That approach would be suicidal for her. "Don't hold anything back. Vital spot strikes, not disabling blows. I said that before. It is true for any enemy, but especially so with Anderson. He is a human regenerator genetically engineered by Iscariot, which means he heals almost as fast as a true vampire can. I put a bullet in his brain the first time I encountered him and it didn't kill him. He was back up seconds later and I had over a dozen blessed bayonets suddenly running me through. I've cut off his arms and he then tried to attack by holding a sword with his teeth, used his cheap little magic tricks to retreat, and then showed up months later with both arms back."

" _Baiser ma vie_. Who does he think he is? The Black Knight?" Mercedes couldn't help muttering the sarcastic comment and put her head in her hands with a sigh. She was feeling even more worried now.

Despite being in the middle of trying to give her strategic advice she had asked for, Alucard began chuckling at the disrupting comment.

Mercedes lifted her head and raised an eyebrow. "You knew that reference?"

"I've been living in England for many years now and my servants are natives," Alucard said with a rueful shake of his head. "I've been exposed to a number of their favorite shows and movies, whether I wanted to be or not, thanks to my senses."

"Well, there had to be some drawback to having said all powerful supernatural senses," Mercedes said with a smirk.

Alucard nodded once in agreement, returning the smirk, then went back to trying to give the human enough information so she had a fighting chance against Iscariot.

"As I think I've made obvious now, your chances of surviving Anderson attacking you are drastically less than with the others and you won't be able to kill him. The best you can hope for against Anderson is to damage him badly enough to make him decide to run off to some hole to heal. Even if you think you've gotten a kill, hit several more times and make sure you're not in the path for a return strike just because you think he's down. If there is a clear opportunity to make a strategic retreat with your son without getting a bayonet in the back, especially if I am not here, it would not be the least cowardly to do so when it comes to Anderson and yourself. And he would have no qualms with putting a bayonet in your back, just as he has no reservation about killing you and your son in your sleep. If it destroys the target enemy, the church's dog will employ the method. As he is likely to have the most information on Iscariot's plans and is the greatest threat, I will be engaging him as a priority. If I am here, the others may be all you have to worry about."

"Cheery. Good to know," Mercedes sighed and tried to make sure she remembered everything she was just told about the priest and how to handle him.

"What is your work schedule the next few evenings?" Alucard asked after a short silence, breaking Mercedes out of her thoughts.

"Wednesday is 7 to close, Thursday is off," Mercedes replied after a moment's thought, "Friday is 5-close, Saturday is 5 to close, Sunday off."

"Is that a normal schedule for you?"

"Mostly. Wednesday and Thursday alternate as my nights off each week. Mondays and Tuesdays are same hours as Wednesdays. I always go to work early for the weekend shifts and every other Sunday is my other night off."

Alucard nodded and thought a moment. "Depending on how long Iscariot has been watching you, they'll know your work schedule and plan accordingly. They're most likely to attack either tomorrow evening when you're exhausted from working several days in a row and expecting a night off, or Saturday after the two longer shifts and likewise tired and expecting a night off. The other nights aren't safe from attack, but those will be the most likely. From the state you were in when I entered, I would guess you haven't called others about this vision of yours?"

"No," Mercedes confirmed.

"Smart seer. And you won't after I leave. Nor will you mention it to anyone in person, as it's possible Iscariot could end up overhearing one way or other. Until they make their move, you will continue your usual routine as though there is nothing amiss."

"You said I should stay home when not at work. Thursday is my day off and I almost always spend my mid-week day off running errands. As the vision showed them attacking at dawn, it'd be safe to continue that usual part of my routine if they don't attack tomorrow night?"

"Relatively," Alucard agreed. "Iscariot does try to minimize potential witnesses."

That statement made something click in Mercedes's brain. "Unless something goes wrong, it won't be Saturday night. My best friend Val always comes over Saturdays. She watches Xander while I'm at work and then we hang out for a few hours when I get home, crash, and then if it's a Sunday where I don't have work, she helps me run whatever errands I didn't get done during the week or we take Xander out someplace fun. She wasn't in my vision, so it won't be Saturday night."

Alucard nodded. "That narrows the time table for an attack down. Does she stay over Sunday nights as well?"

"No. She has college early Monday mornings and then work, so she goes home Sunday evening."

Alucard nodded again. "So then Sunday night is a possibility as well. But I doubt Anderson is going to wait that long to attack." He stood up and used his telekinesis to send the bed folding back up into the couch and the couch cushions back in place, giving more room to maneuver in case of a fight; saying as he did so, "Move your weapons to the bedroom with you and get some sleep. I will remain until dawn has passed and leave you to your usual daily schedule. I will return to meet you for your travel to work." Alucard then used his telekinesis to levitate the weapons on the wall to the woman.

Mercedes held back a nervous laugh as she took the weapons from where they hung mid-air. "I highly doubt I'll be sleeping again tonight, but okay." She paused on her way to the bedroom to look back at Alucard, and found he was again watching her with the odd inscrutable expression. She said tentatively, but sincerely, "I don't know if it makes a difference to you, but thank you for answering my mental shout and being willing to try helping avert the vision I had. Even if you're only doing this for your own reasons to do with Iscariot, I still appreciate your aid."

Alucard nodded once and gave a small smirk. "As you said, the enemy of my enemy is my ally."

Mercedes nodded and went into her son's room, closing the door behind her. She opened up the closet and quickly changed from her night clothes to a close fitting short-sleeved shirt and a pair of pants close fitting enough to not be easy handholds, but baggy enough to allow full movement. She had sewn a belt and knife holsters onto the pants years ago, as they were what she wore when practicing her swordsmanship. Mercedes slipped her wakizashi into one holster and her tanto into the other. Her katana would be tied in place with its own belted sash. She pulled on a pair of socks, then well-worn combat boots she had bought years ago while living on base with her military ex-husband.

Mercedes pulled throwing knives out from a hiding spot on an upper shelf, checked the edges to make sure they were well honed because she hadn't used them in a while, and then slipped those into her boots and strapped them in place as well. Mercedes grabbed two of her favorite folding blades made by Coldsteel, their Voyager XL with tanto tips, and clipped those into the back side of her pants' hem to keep them accessible but hidden. Mercedes pulled out simple solid-steel daggers from the top shelf of her closet that had a leather harness that was specially fitted for her forearms and a spring release mechanism that would attach to her fingers to drop them into her hands when pulled. She put those on a lower shelf to have on hand for other nights.

" _Par les dieux_ , I wish I still had one of the flak jackets Brian snuck off base," Mercedes muttered wryly to herself. "Would certainly have helped prevent death by bullets to the chest."

Her ex-husband had procured (admittedly illegally) a pair of flak jackets while still in the military and working on a bomb squad team for them to use during paintball games to help avoid bruising, but he had taken all the military gear when they separated.

Mercedes left the bedroom and went into the bathroom to brush out her hair. She eventually noticed Alucard watching her as she worked on the mass of tangles, made somewhat worse from sweat having allowed strands to tangle more tightly than they had been and then drying.

"Yes?" Mercedes asked in confusion.

"You're gearing up for a fight already, even though your vision showed it wouldn't be tonight," Alucard noted.

"Better safe than sorry," Mercedes said quietly, looking away to start putting her mostly de-tangled hair into a braid. As the vampire didn't have a reflection, she couldn't tell by mirror if he was still watching her as she fixed her hair. "This is one vision I really don't want coming true, so I'm not taking any chances if I can help it."

"And just how many blades do you plan on sleeping with?" Alucard asked, a hint of entertainment in his voice.

"As many as I can comfortably," Mercedes replied with a rueful smile, trying to distract herself from her worries.

"You'll be considering that comfortable?"

"More comfortable than bullets to the chest and a sword through my throat."

Mercedes's candid response elicited a short chuckle from Alucard. Once her long hair was tied in a simple braid, she twirled it into a compact bun and began securing it tightly so it couldn't be used as a handhold if a fight degenerated into grappling.

"Where did you get all of these weapons?" Alucard asked as she finished doing so.

"Some are from when I had a job as a sales woman for a blades shop on a military base. The owner was former military and a friend of my ex-husband, and I accepted a job there to help keep occupied as I hated being at home all day and dealing with all the gossiping military wives. Some are from various weapons shops in cities I've lived in or visited. Some were gifts from friends who know I have a love of sharp pointy things." Mercedes smiled with a great deal of wistfulness at a memory and then gestured to the wakizashi and tanto at her side, "The katana set usually on display was a gift for my 18th birthday. A favorite pastime for newcomers to the house is 'See If We Can Find All Of Mercedes's Blades'. Thus far, no one has been able to uncover all the blades I have hidden around the apartment for quick access."

"You have two katana sets, a rapier, a machete that I would guess from what it is stored with is used for camping, seven manually folding knives…"

Mercedes looked over at Alucard in surprise and saw his eyes had flared a slightly brighter red.

The progenitor of vampires smirked as he continued. "Five long daggers, nine short daggers, three butterfly knives, two switchblades, twelve boot daggers of various sizes and designs, another dozen throwing knives, three sets of throwing stars, the pair of wrist blades. A steel and heavy silk fighting fan, that is actually sharpened when the blades on the ends are triggered, a cane sword, a staff that pulls apart to reveal a sword on either end, two kukris, and a pair of mini-daggers that look like hair sticks. There's also the jointed double-edged dagger in the kitchen that opens up with sharpened edges also on the insides to use as scissors. There's a short sword and dagger also within a box containing herbs, a chalice and your tarot cards, so I assume those are for your religion's ritual use, not fighting. Plus the obvious kitchen knives. 31 of those in various styles."

Mercedes's mind quickly catalogued her weapons as Alucard listed them and realized he found each and every one. She laughed a moment in appreciation of that. "Impressive. Your vampire senses certainly made that an easier challenge."

"I found them all the night I walked you home from work, actually," Alucard said with another smirk. "Impressive is that only a couple of the throwing knives are cheaper models. None of which, I notice now, are ones you armed yourself with. The rest of your weapons are admirable quality, mostly built for fighting rather than flashy details. Can you use all those properly?"

"The fighting fan I only had a couple lessons with," Mercedes said honestly. "I tracked it down as it is a battle-ready but pretty replica of the one used in the movie ' _Le Pact Des Loups_ ' and I was curious about it. It doesn't make a very effective weapon, but it is fun to play with. Same goes for the hair-stick daggers. Besides an emergency last-defense stab to an artery or vein, they're fairly useless. Shurikens I'm still working on and they're more for fun and practicing my aim than a real defense measure as they lack any real penetrating power if your opponent is wearing anything besides cloth... At least, for someone like me throwing them." Mercedes eyed the progenitor of vampires curiously. "Would be interesting to see what you could make a shuriken go through."

"There's very little I couldn't make one go through," Alucard admitted with a grin.

Mercedes nodded in belief of that statement. "Otherwise, yes, I have trained with all of my blades. Some more than others. It would be worse than useless, more like detrimental, to have a weapon on hand and not know how to properly use it."

"Someone has at least taught you that important lesson of owning weapons," Alucard said.

"Indeed, several someones." Mercedes turned to go back into her bedroom.

"As you own so many blades, why weren't you carrying at least one on your way home from work the other night when you were jumped?" Alucard asked.

Mercedes sighed in frustration as she thought of the answer to that and turned back to look at the progenitor of vampires. "Most states in this country, you're allowed a concealed blade up to six inches, or as wide as your palm. Larger blades need a license to carry a concealed weapon, which is generally easy enough to get. Swords are usually as long as you can see them from three sides, such as strapped over your clothes to your hip or back, they don't count as concealed and need no permit; though a cop might stop to ask why you're carrying a sword if it's not Halloween.

"This city, thanks to all the gang activity, has very, very strict laws regarding carrying any sort of bladed weapon around. It is illegal here to carry any blade, even technically a razor box cutter, unless you can prove you need it for work and have proper paperwork to be allowed to have a specified blade on hand. Bartenders don't fall into that category. Even though I do belly dancing in the bar, bartending is still considered the main occupation and I couldn't get a permit to carry a sword. That's why I originally bought the scissor/dagger piece for self-defense, as it's technically classified as scissors and didn't need a permit. If discovered and questioned, I could have gotten away with saying I had it on hand for cutting open all the containers and bags we have at work and I wanted something unique so coworkers wouldn't mistake it for theirs and accidentally take it home. But then they amended the law shortly after I bought it and even something like that became illegal. If I were to be stopped by a police officer and found to have any of my blades on hand, I could be tossed in jail for a short while and/or heavily fined, depending on how much of a bastard the judge wanted to be."

"Fair enough concern for someone who has a dependent child to care for," Alucard conceded with a nod. "As I will be shadowing you to and from work, I can guarantee you won't be stopped by police. The next few nights, be sure to have a few daggers hidden in your work boots and a knife clipped to the back of your skirt. Your shirt and jacket you usually wear on your way to work, and the shirt and hip scarves while there, will hide it. A dagger or two in your purse and the hair-stick daggers wouldn't hurt either. As you said, better safe than sorry, and a few knives are better than no weapons to defend yourself with at all."

"I'll do that. But if you decide to pull a prank and mentally direct a cop to search me, I'm forwarding you the legal fees from my lawyer," Mercedes said with a teasing smirk. Her amusement didn't reach the expression in her eyes, though, as her mind was still troubled. "And I'll warn you now, Davin is not by any standard a cheap lawyer."

The vampire chuckled at her comment, but he did easily catch many indications of her concerns. "I'll take that under advisement. Legal professionals in this country are notoriously expensive," Alucard replied as he took a seat on the reclining chair in the living room that was closest to the front door. "Good night to you, Mercedes."

"Good night, Alucard," Mercedes said, then continued on her way to her son's bedroom.

Mercedes shifted the position of her wakizashi, tucked the katana next to the bed on the floor, and then laid on her side curled around her son protectively. She noticed Shadowsnake lurking in the walls of Xander's room. With a whisper, the enchantress directed the demonic familiar to remain in the house and keep watch over Xander, rather than disappear off to its own plane of existence, and alert her immediately if it noticed armed strangers approaching.

Shadowsnake was her son's familiar, but it knew the enchantress could permanently destroy it if it didn't listen to her, so it obeyed commands so long as they were in its little master's best interest.

Shadowsnake gave a silent nod of acknowledgment to Mercedes's command and then shifted to the rafters of the roof of the five-stories tall apartment building to keep watch. Most of the other buildings on this block were only two or three floor houses, a couple of four-floor apartment buildings, so Shadowsnake would have a decent vantage point from up there.

Alucard stretched out his legs and leaned back in the chair to wait out the next few hours until dawn, though he was fairly certain that the attack from Iscariot would not be tonight. He sensed when the demonic snake shifted from the bedroom to the roof of the house at Mercedes's quiet command.

On occasion the vampire's contemplative gaze flickered over to bedroom where mother and child were.

'That woman is most definitely not a normal human…' the vampire thought to himself, the thought not disapproving in nature.

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A/N: Thank you to the Guest reviewer! Glad to give you a laugh! To the 200+ folks that have read my story from 1st chapter to 5th, and hopefully now 6th, how about hearing from a few of you? I know you're out there and still reading new chapters because Fanfiction has a traffic graph feature front and center of the page to manage stories. Tell me what you like, what you think could use some work, what made you laugh and what made you groan in disbelief. I'd like to hear the thoughts of those of you who read beyond the first chapter, as something must have made you come back from more. I even appreciate the constructive criticism and well-meaning advice; I have a thick skin and can take it as meant when given diplomatically and to help me grow as a writer.

Have a great week everyone!


	7. Chapter 7 Recon on Enemies and an Ally

Author's Note: I apologize for the severely delayed update, especially to the loyal reviewer GirlWhoLovesFanfiction. Real life caught up with me, including an unexpected out of state trip and then a friend unexpectedly coming to visit because of a personal crisis they were having. This chapter is a necessary, but admittedly somewhat boring, addition. There are very important details that will come into play as this story unfolds, so I couldn't justify shortening it further than I already have, nor editing it out completely. To make up for the long wait, and because we have my usual weekend update due, there's two more chapters to follow this one. Hopefully that'll be enough of an apology. Thanks again to GWLF for your feedback!

Chapter Seven

Recon on Enemies and an Ally

True to her word, Mercedes couldn't manage to fall asleep. She had spent the remainder of the night quietly watching her son sleeping and going over tactics in her mind to protect her son and herself when Iscariot finally made its appearance so she would hopefully be prepared enough to survive any operatives that might make their way past Alucard or if they showed when the vampire was not nearby.

She had meant it when she expressed gratitude for Alucard being willing to aid her. Though it was a surprising feeling, Mercedes did feel a measure of relief and safety with the infamous original vampire in the next room and likewise waiting for Iscariot's next move. She was still concerned he might change his mind about killing her, but that was lessened now after he said he wasn't planning to and had given his reasoning as to why that was. And with that knowledge, she was mostly and simply feeling relief that Alucard's calculating and lethal attention was now on the same enemy she had.

Feeling as prepared as she could be, Mercedes did her best to meditate and get her mind in a calm state of being so she could continue to think straight.

When dawn finally broke and light was creeping into the bedroom through the curtains, Mercedes subconsciously let out a sigh of relief and for a change was the first out of bed. She moved her katana and a few of the blades she wore to the closet in her son's room so he wouldn't stumble upon them and then walked into the living room. She found Alucard still sitting on the chair as he had been when she went into the bedroom.

"Good morning, Mercedes," Alucard said, nodding to the human.

"Good morning, Alucard," Mercedes glanced at the windows. "Sun is up. Are you going to need to crash here?"

"Unlike most vampires, I can travel around in the daylight without bursting into flames," Alucard said with a smirk as his svelte frame stretched out to stand. "There are many benefits to being as old as I am and the first of my kind."

Mercedes nodded, having mostly expected that he was strong enough to withstand the sunlight, and made her way to the kitchen to start her coffee. "I imagine there is. Coffee?"

"No thank you," Alucard said. "Will you be able to keep to your normal routine today without setting off any warning bells from a public breakdown?"

"I'll be fine," Mercedes said indignantly.

Alucard raised an eyebrow, wordlessly questioning the sincerity of that hasty statement.

Mercedes sighed and after a few seconds of thought she said, "The real stress will be leaving Xander's side to go to work. I can't even leave the hounds here to protect him as I know Miss Geina, his babysitter, would have a heart attack if she saw one of them and anyone from Iscariot watching would notice the difference in behavior as I usually don't leave them behind. They're not quite as adept at hiding as Xander's snake."

"Once you're safely at work, I was planning on keeping an eye on the boy as well in case something deviates from your vision," Alucard said impassively.

Mercedes glanced over at the vampire in surprise. He appeared serious in the statement.

"Thank you," the young woman said before going back to making her coffee.

"I'm only trying to keep ahead of Iscariot."

"Yes, well, fortunately for me that works in my favor. So I still felt the need to say thank you."

"I have things to attend to until this evening. If Iscariot attacks during the day, you may call for me," Alucard instructed. "Otherwise, anything you may need to say can wait until evening when I return."

"Sure thing." Mercedes glanced over at the vampire again. "I apologize for the really loud shout in your head last night."

"It's not as though you are a trained telepath and you were panicked. It was an easy enough mistake to have happen and there was obviously no damage done." Alucard tipped the brim of his hat to Mercedes as a parting gesture. "Try to keep yourself out of further trouble until this evening, Seer."

"You too, Alucard," Mercedes said with a nod.

"Now where would the entertainment be in that?" Alucard gave the canine-revealing grin and glided backwards out of the apartment through the wall.

'Unabashed show off,' Mercedes thought with a smile tugging at her lips, shaking her head slightly. She began making her son's breakfast in an attempt to keep her mind busy and their schedule as normal as possible so as not to worry Xander.

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Alucard was taking a short nap in his coffin, which lay in the hotel's bedroom, when the expected call from Walter arrived a half hour earlier than its deadline. Alucard slid the coffin lid open and the cell phone that had been resting on the side table flew over to his hand.

"Yes, Walter? Have you discovered anything?" Alucard asked calmly as he sat up.

"I went over all reports of people documented entering the Philadelphia Archdiocese, including the newest arrivals that passed through Philadelphia International checkpoint Tuesday that just came in today's report. When cross-referenced with our files on Iscariot members known, there are no new faces to be found, including the red-haired, green-eyed individual you inquired about. They are all members we have on file and none are known to have supernatural abilities."

"Hm…" was the only response from Alucard for several seconds after that announcement. He was fairly annoyed by that. Somehow Iscariot was managing to move most of their operatives into the Archdiocese when he was not there to catch them, though he knew he wasn't being followed and he couldn't figure out what their pattern was.

Finally Alucard said, "Then perhaps the person who has been keeping watch on our lead is a local agent who does not directly report into the Archdiocese."

"Perhaps, Master," Walter agreed. "Though I have been unable to find any leads on whom that may be if that is the case. I also did as you ordered and went digging to find out Anderson's movements. I finally discovered that he was traveling under a new false identity this trip. He arrived at Philadelphia International yesterday morning at approximately 9:36 am. There is thus far no return flight booked under that alias, his real name, or any other known aliases."

"So either they were not sure when the good father would be returning home or he'll be traveling under yet another new alias by alternate means once his work is completed as they expect him to possibly draw some attention to the currently known aliases," Alucard surmised based off past actions of Iscariot. Based on the general timeline he had for the seer's movements the day before, and Anderson's time of arrival, the vampire also guessed that Mercedes had bumped into the paladin while he was on his way to the Archdiocese, or perhaps stopping somewhere in Center City to meet with a liaison for The States before continuing his travel to the Archdiocese.

"Given the activity still growing at the Archdiocese, I would hazard to guess it may be the latter."

"Indeed. Though my plans are to make certain that dog is put down once and for all so he cannot return to his masters to lick his wounds," Alucard said with an expectant grin. He asked a bit more soberly, "And what of the other request I made?"

"As you asked, I have been making a thorough investigation into Ms. Dreux-Brézé's background to attempt to find some link, favorable or negative, to Iscariot through either herself or immediate connections, as well as possible alternative sources of the hired attack from Sunday evening. I was more successful in such research in regards to range of information found, though even that information has not been wholly illuminating in regards to this current situation. If you are in your hotel room, I can fax you a copy of her dossier now so you may view the findings to try ascertaining some link I have missed, along with the reports of the new arrivals at the Archdiocese."

"Do so, but in the meantime tell me the highlights of what you've discovered," Alucard replied.

While Walter and Seras had both suggested that Alucard bring his laptop with him for this matter in case information needed be sent, as emails were a far quicker and easier way to pass information, Alucard had had a feeling that all the activity at the Archdiocese would mean something large scale was on the horizon and he preferred to have physical records to sift through and group together to evaluate a situation. His memory was picture perfect, but actually looking at intel gathered, spread out and able to be shuffled about, helped him draw the proper conclusions when trying to work out a particularly difficult plot Iscariot was up to. Alucard attributed the quirk to all his years without such technology as computers; reviewing reports and forming battle plans by simpler means. The vampire was more than well enough versed in modern technology of all areas, but clicking on various little tabs on a computer and being limited to what information he could view at a time irritated the quick minded and tactile vampire to no end.

Walter and Seras had mostly learned to stop arguing with their master over the matter, especially as the fact that his way did indeed significantly speed up his analysis was indisputable. Therefore Walter made certain to secure any electronic transmissions, such as faxes, from being intercepted through whatever hacking or scrambling computer things he did and a device he had Alucard bring to The States and attach to the fax machine in his room.

Alucard was proficient with modern technology- in everything ranging from weaponry to transportation to electronics- but that advanced computer work was not his interest and his servants were more than adept to be given that responsibility so he needn't waste his time with learning all the details. The records Walter had been sending Alucard thus far were kept stored in his coffin, which was imbued by his own energy to be (among other things) indestructible and impossible to open for any besides himself, whenever he was not in the hotel room to ensure that the reports were kept secured from potential prying eyes as it was sensitive information and he had known enemies in the city.

"As Ms. Dreux-Brézé stated to you, she is divorced. The divorce to her former spouse was filed by Ms. Dreux-Brézé mere weeks after their son was born," Walter said the information quickly, likely reading it from the dossier he had compiled. "Stipulations filed are summarily that she did not request child-support payments or alimony, but did request sole custody and decision making rights of the child in all natures permitted by a divorce order and strict no contact orders between her spouse and herself or their son even beyond the removal of visitation rights. After rescheduling the final divorce hearing four times due to her spouse not appearing in court, both parties were finally present at the fifth hearing. The courts agreed to Ms. Dreux-Brézé's request due to extensive records Ms. Dreux-Brézé provided proving abuse and infidelity. What those records are, I have not been able to discover as they were not entered into the court records online, simply notated as existing and filed away in hard format. The divorce stipulations were also approved because her spouse in fact supported them."

"He supported orders that fully removed him from his wife and newborn son's lives?" Alucard asked with mild confusion, having thought that there would have been a contestation after so many delays in proceedings.

"Quite. His statement, recorded in the case to notate his position, is to the effect that he wished for a clean break from his current wife and child to have a family with his pregnant mistress who was due to give birth to his second son in the near future. While such was the case, you did ask I investigate any leads to whom may want to hire an attack on Ms. Dreux-Brézé, if not Iscariot, and a former spouse accused of abuse is still a primary suspect.

"I checked to see if there have been any indications of a change in the situation between Ms. Dreux-Brézé and her former spouse since their divorce. There have been no requests by either party to revisit the divorce arrangements, nor other legal proceedings between the two to indicate any interactions at all. Nor do her phone records show any calls to or from him in the four years she has had her current cellular number. In the course of running a basic background check on her former spouse, I discovered that while he had a stable span of five years in the military after graduating high school, since his release from the military he has had no official rental or employment records.

"From a social networking site he has an account on that came up with a simple search of his name, he appears to live outside the city of Boston, though exact suburb is not listed. He is living with a girlfriend, a different woman than the mistress he had been expecting a child with, and is working under the table as a bouncer at a night club. From comments made on his webpage, apparently such employment was chosen as he is currently in legal battles with the former mistress and two other women over children he is responsible for paying child support for, four children in total between the three, and had no desire to have taxable records for them to be able to use as the basis for determining his obligation."

"Sounds like an excellent specimen of humanity," Alucard commented sarcastically.

"Agreed, but despite his current objectionable lifestyle post-military, there seems to be no indications that he would have motivations to be behind an attack on Ms. Dreux-Brézé. Especially as he clearly dodges his responsibilities and possibly having to take custody of his legitimate son would be against character. Also, he does not fit the physical description of the unknown possible Iscariot agent who arranged the attack on Ms. Dreux-Brézé. He is listed as being 6'7", 250 lbs, black hair and blue eyes, and has a great number of tattoos acquired since leaving the military."

"That would indeed not be the one who arranged the attack," Alucard agreed. He almost felt a twinge of disappointment. He had killed people with far less provocation and a legitimate reason to make the short trip to Boston to rip to shreds the waste of life before he could further spawn was a rather tempting concept.

"Other possible connections investigated are her immediate family, who mostly live in the United States or France. Many in her mother's family who live in the United States have secondary residences in France. Her mother died two years ago this month, suicide."

Alucard raised an eyebrow to that, immediately thinking of something Mercedes said the night he had first questioned her. _'My son needs his mother and I'd never abandon him under any circumstances. Refusing to fight to return to my child would be the same as walking away from him.'_

'Between her ex-husband and her mother, that would explain the vehemence in that statement to some extent,' Alucard thought. 'And I'd wager anything that her mother's suicide was one of those visions of loved ones dying she mentioned failing to prevent coming to pass…'

Walter was still speaking as Alucard's mind quickly made the connections. "Father died six years ago, heart attack. Step-father died just over a year ago, car accident. Maternal grandparents, sisters of mother and their spouses and children make up the remaining immediate family. Father's sibling and parents predeceased him. As Ms. Dreux-Brézé also stated to you, her maternal side of the family is the branch of titular French nobility of the same name, which explains the residences in France, and she is indeed the rightful heiress of her family's estates, if not title, when her grandfather passes away. She has a large number of extended family members who still reside in that country and others. Her father's family is not of noble background and do not appear to be of much note. Most all the males in her maternal side of the family were at one point, or currently are, enlisted in branches of the French military for various positions. Her father was also military, for the United States, an Army engineer.

"Remaining civilian relatives on maternal side are medical professionals, politicians of various positions in a number of countries, lawyers, or own various businesses. As best as can be researched in so short a span of time, none of these relatives are connected to Iscariot. The only thing that stands noting about her family is that they do appear to be devout Catholics, like most French of noble blood. Many members of the Dreux-Brézé and l'Estourbeillon families have made generous contributions to their religion that have been featured in various magazines and newspapers. More precisely, her maternal family has funded the building of a number of churches in France for at least the last four centuries, and later in Canada and the United States. They have also aided the founding or funding of several Catholic charities that effect those countries and some that extend world-wide. The Philadelphia Archdiocese is not among those churches her family has funded the creation of. They have a large private graveyard and mausoleum in France, tended by a church her family funded the creation of, that all family members have been entombed within upon death.

"Also of note, contrary to family traditions, Ms. Dreux-Brézé doesn't seem to be Catholic herself. She is listed as having taken her First Communion at age 10, but there are no records of a Confirmation or further church activity. Her son has no records of connections to the church, not even a baptism. Alternatively, she is listed in state records as holding a ministry license under the general religious classification of 'Universalist.' Despite this difference in religious choices, her phone records show frequent and usually lengthy calls to her grandparents, along with some less frequent calls to other family members. There are travel records of her periodically visiting her family in the United States, but not to those outside the country since her teenage years. She also has, like the rest of her maternal family living in the United States, dual citizenship with France and currently valid passports for both nations. Ms. Dreux-Brézé's mother went so far as to travel back to France when pregnant and gave birth to Mercedes there to ensure her daughter's dual citizenship with France. While Ms. Dreux-Brézé did not follow her mother's extreme example for her son, she did apply for dual French citizenship for the child, and received it, and he likewise has passports for both countries.

"Outside of familial connections and choice of religion, Ms. Dreux-Brézé's personal information researched- Education was private academy for her high school years. Course studies focused on business and legal matters and she was in the Navy Junior Reserved Officers Training Corps program. Third year, the courses switched focus to historical literature and fine arts, though she continued taking some business courses. She remained in the military preparation course and was the second highest ranking cadet officer upon graduating. She graduated school at 16, having skipped two grades in elementary and middle school. Despite the military program, she did not enlist as many family members have and instead attended college for a degree in Small Business Management, with electives in history and art. She did not enroll in the Reserved Officer Training Program offered by the college, which indicates she had no intention of later joining the military as an officer with a degree. Because of the elite high school she went to, many of her business classes from the Academy were accredited college courses and she started college with almost half the credits already needed for a Bachelor's in the field. Despite taking a heavy load of accelerated courses that scheduled her to graduate in a three semester year and maintaining a 3.9 average, she failed her last semester due to a sudden stop in attendance near the beginning of that semester. There was no proper withdrawal from the program made, so no reason was listed for such.

"At age 22, Ms Dreux-Brézé was enrolled in college again, this time for a Registered Nurse program instead of finishing her Business degree, but left near the end of the second semester and did not return. The date corresponds with her mother's death, and her reason listed for leaving college was familial crisis, so it is safe to say the two events are directly related. She also has a clean criminal record for the most part. There are five sealed juvenile records, between the ages of 16 and 17, of having altercations with her mother. She was reportedly defending herself from physical abuse, but such actions were filed as simple assault because she was a minor and the other party was a parent, so by law she didn't have the right to strike back. Her maternal grandparents hired a lawyer on her behalf to defend her case each time. The cases were repeatedly thrown out; her lawyer made convincing arguments that regardless of relation, if she was old enough to be charged as an adult, then her actions needed to be judged as an adult who was defending herself from unprovoked attacks, not as a minor attacking a parent when being disciplined for questionable reasons. Ms. Dreux-Brézé declined to follow up with counter charges against her mother for the abuse, and refused to cooperate with authorities to have the state press independent charges on her mother. The last incident corresponds to her first leave of college, so that was likely a cause."

"Seems to have been some friction with her mother even if she gets along with other family members," Alucard commented, having ascertained a level of such friction from comments Mercedes had made and was part of why he had requested such a thorough check. He could hear the fax machine begin receiving Walter's findings and rose from his coffin to view the dossier himself as Walter continued.

"Quite. Otherwise, she has no criminal record. Shortly after the second case, Ms. Dreux-Brézé's rental records begin at the age of 17, with a non-family, adult co-signer. It appears she moved out of her mother's residence to avoid further friction. Upon turning 18 years of age, she took over the lease as the sole tenant. A curious thing to note is that Ms. Dreux-Brézé appears to have ownership of a small house with several acres of land, in a small town in the White Mountains range of New Hampshire, obtained shortly after turning 21 years old. No mortgage and the yearly taxes and fees for the house ownership were paid in advance for several years from now by apparently Ms. Dreux-Brézé herself. She has rental records elsewhere, as evidenced by her current residence, and the utility records show she clearly does not spend much time there as there are only rare occasions when the electricity is used. Nor is there a phone or cable connection installed."

"Then why have the house at all?" Alucard mused out loud. While many of wealthy backgrounds had secondary homes, Mercedes said she lived off her own funds and she also didn't seem the type to have multiple residences. "That is hardly a sound investment for someone living off the wages of a bartender. Even without finishing her degree, someone with a 3.9 in business would know that. A hotel or staying with her family when she is in town would be far cheaper."

"Indeed," Walter said. "I am attempting to discover more information on that, including how she came to own the house without a mortgage. At this time I have yet to find appropriate records, as the discovery of the house was less than an hour ago. I would guess that her maternal family, who live in nearby towns to the house, had something to do with the matter. I checked her banking records as well. As far as can be found thus far, she has a single checking account under her name and no savings account. The account indicates only her own wages from her employment being deposited for the last several years. There appears to be no outside aid from family or other sources such as a significant other, nor payoffs from organizations like Iscariot's associated businesses. There is a biannual fee automatically deducted from her account for a storage unit located in downtown Philadelphia. There are also yearly payments to a few pagan organizations, such as periodicals and community organizers, as a sponsor to such organizations."

Walter's voice was distinctly disapproving of this fact, though he had previously kept a neutral, professional tone.

"Such payments would correspond with her 'Universalist' ministry certifications. One online periodical she sponsors has her listed on their page under their acknowledged sponsors as a Universal Minister and pagan priestess who specializes in pagan ceremonies and interfaith weddings. They also have an interview with her listed as such and include links to a couple newspaper articles in which organizations she has worked with have done community fund raising projects. Combined with her other background information, it is safe to conclude she truly does not have any favorable ties to Iscariot, though there is nothing that stands out as significant enough to be provoking towards Iscariot."

"Anything else?"

The divorce, familial, and background records thus far mentioned had finally finished printing out. Alucard was glancing over a few photos and records that were last to arrive of the previously mentioned house the human owned. It was a single floor brownstone cottage with cream colored roofing, narrow lattice-work windows, and a large enclosed front porch. It looked rather like a gingerbread house from children's stories. There were flower beds around the house and a single car garage separate from the house, with a riverstone walkway between the two. A forest could be seen in the background. The town records showed it to be three bedrooms, 1 ½ baths, with a finished basement and 12 acres of land. The yearly expenditures on the house were relatively low given its remote location and modest size.

Compared to Mercedes's current residence, the house was a far more preferable home. The only drawback the vampire could perceive was it was in fact situated in such a remote location on the outskirts of a small town in the mountains, which would make employment difficult for a single mother. As she chose to spend most of her time living in a city several hundred miles away, and the expenditures were still that even if small, it didn't make sense to keep the house, as selling it would give ample finances for a better residence in Philadelphia.

"I also have been attempting to research her ties to the local vampire community as best as can be done in 48hours," Walter said. His tone was politely neutral, but his words indirectly reminded his Master just how much work had been placed on him to accomplish.

"And did you find anything of note?" Alucard asked, unmoved by the not-so-subtle complaint.

Walter had likely done a great deal of the research on his own because Seras was away with Pip and the Geese on an unrelated assignment Integra had hired her for, but Alucard knew his servant had his own contacts and agents that had likely aided the process given the demanded volume of information in so short a period of time. Though Walter was giving more information on Mercedes than anything, such information was easier to access, and in some cases (such as her residences) a matter of open public records. Alucard knew that the most time consuming and labor intensive activities had been hacking highly secure, encrypted databases to check on Iscariot's agents and Anderson's movements, so he didn't feel the least guilty for having asked his servant for the extensive check on the human.

Walter continued to list the information he found. "Her phone records show frequent phone calls with the Elder vampire known as 'Liam Sëaghdha'," Walter had to pause with the Gaelic last name, pronouncing it as 'Shay-cha'. "Such calls are initiated by both parties, sometimes more than once a week, though most calls are relatively short in duration. Online searches uncovered one private site, owned and run by an Elder named Deirdre Walsh, where Ms. Dreux-Brézé is in posts or pictures uploaded in the last few years for social events held by the local vampires that take place throughout the year. She is seen almost exclusively in the pictures with Liam.

"Ms. Dreux-Brézé has seven mutual vampire friends with Liam on this social site, all of whom are known Elders, along with a few mutual human friends, and the vampires are listed as living in the tristate area. Names of the vampires- Davin Delcour, Sasha Delcour, Marrick DeLis, Henrick Kingston, Natasia Kingston, Janna Kingston and Denissa Santiognne. Those friends are the most often seen with Ms. Dreux-Brézé in candid photos where Liam is not directly by her side, though he is often not far away in even those pictures.

"Of note, while Ms. Dreux-Brézé's friends on this site are all listed as friends of Liam, he has a much larger list of friends that do not appear on her site. Also, while she is mostly exclusively seen in photos with Liam at events attended together, Liam often attends additional events with other evening companions. Those other companions are all vampires, though none are known Elders. Ms. Dreux-Brézé appears to be the only human Liam brings to social events. Liam also only brings his vampire companions to events hosted by humans where paparazzi are present to take pictures for magazines. There is, however, one exception that I found, in which there was a widely circulated mention of a connection between Ms. Dreux-Brézé and Liam."

"Oh?" Alucard asked. "And that would be?"

"When Ms. Dreux-Brézé's mother committed suicide two years ago," Walter replied matter-of-factly. "Given who her family is, such was a somewhat shocking event for both American and French high society. It appears that Liam immediately traveled to New Hampshire with an entourage of security guards and his public relations personnel for the purpose of giving the grieving family privacy and aiding them to arrange proper funeral services in France that would likewise remain private. The vampire, Davin Delcour, apparently a high profile lawyer for the wealthy in The States, likewise attended to the noble family as one of their legal representatives to ensure that reporters and paparazzi were kept at bay. When questioned on their relationship to the family and why they were involved in the matter, both stated they were friends of the deceased's daughter and felt the family had been through enough trauma that they should not be subjected to further upsets.

"No further comments were made as to their relationship with Ms. Dreux-Brézé and they were successful in keeping relative privacy for the family during the next week that followed and various services were held in both countries. There are a few pictures that one French photographer was able to take from a distance before being discovered by security and escorted from the family graveyard. One of which includes a picture of Ms. Dreux-Brézé and Liam, with Liam by her side seeming a supportive friend to the distraught young woman as the burial ceremony is taking place. Sasha Delcour, wife of Counselor Delcour, can be seen next to them holding Ms. Dreux-Brézé's small son, with her husband to her other side."

"Interesting…" Alucard said contemplatively. "That seems quite a lot of effort to extend for someone with Liam's reputation."

"Perhaps," Walter agreed neutrally. "Along with the status of Ms. Dreux-Brézé's family, such an intervention drew attention and was why the media was attempting so vigorously to obtain answers. There was speculation on potential dynamics between the two because of circumstances, but nothing uncovered to substantiate the theories. While the reporters were not pleased to be given so little information on exactly what had happened to cause Ms. Dreux-Brézé's mother to commit suicide, nor further information on how Ms. Dreux-Brézé had come to be friends with Liam or Davin, both men were lauded by some reporters and many members of high society for their efforts to protect the family's privacy during such a traumatic event. The media buzz died down quickly and shifted to events elsewhere, as it usually does, when they were unable to obtain any concessions to anything beyond friendship between the two or uncover such by their own investigating."

"And those mentions of Mercedes that are made among vampires?" Alucard prompted.

"The posts concerning her presence at the vampiric events she has attended are by third parties who were also guests of the events and have been invited to join the social networking site," Walter replied. "Neither Ms. Dreux-Brézé, Liam or their mutual friends post publically regarding their outings. The pictures I have compiled of the two were in private albums uploaded onto the profiles of the vampires Marrick and Henrick and were only meant to be accessible to those previously listed individuals who are mutual friends of Ms. Dreux-Brézé and Liam. Most other third party mentions of Ms. Dreux-Brézé are trivial matters such as outfits she wore and pictures including her were often in the background with the vampire Liam as another party was being photographed.

"There is a mention at the beginning of last year in regards to one photo that did feature Ms. Dreux-Brézé, in which Ms. Dreux-Brézé was speaking with a vampire male that was not Liam or those in their immediate circle. A vampire named 'Jared O'Connor' on the site, though we have no record of a vampire by such a name living in the United States. I have yet to be able to cross-reference his photo to see if he comes up under another name and I suspect such will be unnecessary. The poster states that the photo was taken shortly before the vampire, Jared, 'attempted to get a little too friendly with Liam's date' and 'Liam taught him a lesson in manners when speaking to a lady.' There are no other pictures depicting the vampire after and his own network profile has been inactive since."

"So that would be a lesson of the more permanent sort," Alucard said, an approving smirk flashing.

"It would appear so," Walter agreed, slightly less amused by the theory. Walter didn't disagree with such lessons, especially with low-life vampires such as the one in question, but he did not approve of casual public announcements to those effects.

"A few other posts seem to be typical gossip among women regarding speculated aspects of the relationship between the Elder, Liam, and Ms. Dreux-Brézé given its unusual dynamic. Specific mentions of vampirism are avoided for discretion. Such gossip ceased after May of last year, as there is a response post from Liam himself to a thread of conversation. He said, quote: 'This conversation will end now and those involved will be hearing from me through less public means. As future warning to any others wishing to discuss my private matters- Any interactions I may or may not have with any female I bring to events are not subject for gossip. Such uncouth behavior has been ongoing for too long, especially with the advent of easily-updated social media, and will not be tolerated any further'. End quote."

"So your research shows that Liam is protective of Mercedes in many aspects," Alucard concluded.

"Quite protective it would seem," Walter agreed. "Gossip on past companions did not garner the same reaction from Liam, even if he did not specifically single out Ms. Dreux-Brézé as the reason for speaking up at that time. And though he expressed displeasure over the gossip currently happening, Liam has allowed himself to be photographed or interviewed by magazines on a number of occasions the last several years. Some of those pictures have shown women with him, and his interviews summarily paint him to be the consummate bachelor who enjoys such casual company. One may guess his unusual protectiveness may be because Ms. Dreux-Brézé is human and a mother, whereas the others are vampires. Liam may view her as less likely to be able to defend herself should hostile attention be drawn to her, and be more vulnerable to negative effects of wide-spread gossip for socializing with one of his reputation."

"That is a plausible theory," was all Alucard said.

The banking records had arrived and they were as Walter said with a regular cycle to the deposits and then payments for bills, the balance in the positive and slowly growing, but not containing any substantial amount. There was nothing suspicious indicated by the account, except that it was not the assets one would expect a noble born woman to have. Even if Mercedes chose to live by her own means, it wasn't as though she was disowned from her family. One would expect some funds in reserve provided by her family in case of emergency.

"There have since been some conversations and photos of other companions Liam has brought to social events, but none in regards to Ms. Dreux-Brézé and none that discuss possible aspects of relationships with the other companions. Lastly of note, while she hasn't visited family in France in nearly a decade, passport records show she and her son did accompany Liam to an estate he owns in France on a few occasions during the summer of last year and again around Christmas time. Photos posted by other companions of Liam show that they have been as well, and some have done so far more recently than Ms. Dreux-Brézé."

"So the question remains, why is Iscariot targeting her?" Alucard once more mused out loud.

The social networking screenshots and the picture circulated in magazines from the funeral of Mercedes's mother were printing now. Alucard quickly glanced them over, finding them again to be much as Walter had said.

The photos from vampiric social events showed Mercedes dressed up in various elegant evening gowns; as opposed to the work attire, daily or sleeping clothes, or (last night) outfitted to fight as Alucard had seen her dressed. They were all classic styles, floor length and flattering to her figure, though modest hems covered her full chest. Some gowns were long-sleeved, some with thinner straps paired with matching elbow-length gloves covering her arms and a shawl wrapped around her shoulders. Her extremely long dark brown hair was usually pulled up in coils and braids and fixed with delicate matching hair combs of various designs. Alucard was inclined to guess it was crystal accents in the pieces rather than cheaper glass or more expensive jewels. One picture showed her with her hair down and more curly than its usual wave, with a single hair comb pulling one side up and away from her slender heart-shaped face. She wore very little makeup in any of the pictures, accenting her eyes (which were invariably their normal brown in the pictures) and her cheek bones, a lipgloss rather than lipstick to accentuate her rosy lips. In only a few pictures was she wearing jewelry, but the jewelry she did wear was along the lines of the clothing and hair adornments- elegant, delicate and veering far away from ostentatious.

'Well now,' Alucard thought with intrigued surprise, a dark eyebrow raised as his hellfire eyes flickered brighter for a moment. 'Imagine that. When the little mouse is dressed up in such, she actually does look a proper Lady.'

As Walter had said, the same vampire was in almost every single picture by her side. When Liam wasn't with her arm in arm, he wasn't far away. The vampire was several inches taller than Mercedes, appeared to have been in his later 20s when he had been turned, and was dressed in chic designer suits or formal evening wear in all the pictures. He wore his light brown hair below-the-shoulder length, different streaks of color added to match his outfits for different events, but always pulled back in a small tail at the nape of his neck and a few stray strands left in a deliberate artful mess around his face. Said face was fine-boned and pale as ivory, with an aquiline nose, defined high cheek bones, and a strong but narrow chin. His features definitely reflected a bird of prey in such respects and Alucard had a sneaking suspicion that was the inspiration for the current surname the Elder used. Liam had green eyes, just barely bright enough in pictures to be noticeable as unnatural if one were aware of such a possibility, that were often attentively on his human companion. His outfits usually complimented outfits Mercedes was wearing, but they weren't a direct match to indicate an attempt to seem a pair, simply not clashing in designs when standing next to one another. Regardless of the change in attire and hair color, the vampire always wore an ornate golden ring on his right ring finger; a hawk stretched across the first digit, the band was its wings wrapping around his finger.

Among the pictures, there was one from a large holiday party the previous winter, just before their last trip to France, showing Liam and Mercedes dancing together in a waltz with their stances polite but comfortable. Another from the summer previous showed them sitting side by side in the box seat of a small theater hall and attentively watching the premier of a play taking place down below. The following picture was of both looking up in irritation and gesturing for the photographer to stop taking pictures. The caption indicated the vampire Marrick as the photographer and that he was being chastised for the distracting flash on the camera during the play. Alucard noted that Marrick referred to Mercedes as 'Sunshine' in that caption, so apparently the nickname was not solely Liam's for the human. Neither picture allowed for comments to be posted, so there was no other information to be had from mutual friends responding.

Another picture was of Liam sitting at the head of a formal dining table and Mercedes seated next to him, drinks in hand and surrounded by vampire guests. The closest seated were those apparently in their inner circle of friends. Marrick, a broad-shouldered vampire with long black hair pulled back in similar fashion to Liam and apparently even taller than Liam, was on Mercedes's other side. A female vampire with long blonde hair and blazing blue eyes was on Liam's other side and across from Mercedes, identified in the post as Sasha Delcour. The vampire Davin Delcour was seated beside Sasha and engaged in conversation with Marrick. Liam and Mercedes had their heads bent close together, glancing off in one direction away from the guests, laughing in unhindered amusement about something out of sight of the picture or something said between them. The photographer was the vampire Henrick, he had not posted a caption to indicate what was taking place, and comments were again not permitted to be posted.

The single photo from the burial services in France did indeed show Mercedes at the front of the crowd of those gathered, with other members of the immediate family. Liam was standing next to Mercedes, expression gravely serious in opposition to any of the other photographs he was seen in, with a supportive arm around her shoulders and the other around her waist. The young woman was turned away from the flower-laden coffin and hiding her face against his chest as he was apparently saying something to her, one of her hands could be seen bunched tightly around the front of his shirt. Sasha stood next to the two with Mercedes's son in her arms, the boy a small toddler at the time, appearing to be trying to keep the restless child quietly occupied for the solemn event. Her husband stood next to her, Davin's attention respectfully on the priest giving the burial prayers.

"It is curious that Liam only has one human female he brings to social events and made the efforts he did when Ms. Dreux-Brézé's mother passed away," Walter was agreeing, "but she is not the only woman he brings to those events and it appears the vampires he brings he has greater romantic involvements with. Liam has been reported on a few other rare occasions of giving similar aid to someone, male and female, that he deemed a friend by some unanswered connection when a crisis arose. So while he is most widely known as an unabashed philanderer, it wasn't entirely out of precedent for him to step in as he did, though it did raise the most attention because of who her family is and that she is a single mother and heiress who was friends with the wealthy bachelor. With all that considered, one of those other females to target, or one of the less connected friends he has been known to intercede for, would make more sense if getting to Liam was Iscariot's aim. Unless, of course, they felt that Ms. Dreux-Brézé somehow stood out for being a human and less intimately involved with the vampire, yet also being one of those few friends Liam has been reported to be concerned over."

"That could be a theory behind Iscariot's motivations," Alucard said. He was viewing the pictures of Liam with his other female companions, pictures taken from the social networking site and magazine or newspaper articles.

While Liam remained near to Mercedes in a protective and observant fashion, and both appeared to be enjoying each other's company in the social situations, they weren't displaying any signs of being involved romantically.

Liam's vampire companions, on the other hand, tended to dress in more provocative fashions in a clear sign of sexual intent, though still with varying levels of tasteful style. On a few occasions, such as at a highly-publicized Halloween masquerade the year before, Liam was dressed to match his companion for the evening- in that instance as the mythical couple Arthur and Guinevere. At a premier for a Renaissance themed musical, Liam and another companion, a dark haired statuesque vampire, were dressed in matching period outfits of forest green and gold. Rather than walk with interlocked arms, Liam often had an arm around their waists or shoulders, or hand in hand with another (a third vampire companion he was dressed to match for a party). His expressions towards those women were undeniably of a desirous sort. Liam could be seen in some pictures giving them kisses on the cheeks or nipping playfully at their necks. In one picture, one of the most recent posted on the site for vampires, his evening companion was sitting in his lap at the head of a dinner table and he was offering his own crystal goblet of either blood or wine to the woman.

It was entirely possible, given the attitude that Alucard had overheard Liam using when on the phone with Mercedes, that the vampire viewed his vampire companions as expendable, for whatever reason, yet viewed the human as being dearer to him, and could be behaving so promiscuously in public with them as a diversionary tactic from the human. Which would be odd as Liam could not have the satisfaction of eventually turning the human to make her his bride, if he indeed cared for her so much as to be preemptively drawing attention from her with his vampire companions.

Not to mention, it was fairly common knowledge (as Walter's research easily verified) such behavior was as long standing as Liam had been known to be around under his various aliases, far longer than Mercedes had even been alive. Therefore, the evidence Walter had gathered of his current associations was quite in line with that. Also, it seemed unlikely there was more than a friendship between the two as not a single photo, even candid, evinced any sign of intimate ties between the Elder and Mercedes. So it could be as simple as Alucard heard Liam likewise complaining of- of enjoying the human's company as a break from his usual activities with such vampiric companions that were easier to come by- and wishing for the heiress to not have to be subjected to trouble for agreeing with his requests for her company.

That Liam had apparently similarly aided others he deemed friends during times of personal upsets, articles which Walter included copies of, made it not entirely unusual for his aid extended when Mercedes's mother died. And as there was no further traditionally circulated mention of connections between the two, which could not be said of those others friends Liam kept, Iscariot wouldn't have much widely-known information to go on when investigating, unless they likewise uncovered this vampiric networking site that Walter had had to hack into.

"Walter, do you know the significance of these sigils humans are wearing in the pictures from the vampiric site?" Alucard asked. Mercedes was wearing a small ornately engraved hawk pin in some pictures, a delicate crystal hair piece in the shape of a hawk in another, in later pictures a ring was present. That ring was a golden band fashioned in Celtic knot work, with a pair of hawk wings in the center and surrounding a crescent moon with a sun cradled in the crescent. There were a few pictures of a human male accompanying the vampire known as Denissa to events. He wore a golden pendant with a sigil of an iris flower in all pictures, and bore a tattoo on the back of his left wrist with the same sigil. Some few pictures showed other human guests at events wearing some such sigil displayed as well.

"It is my understanding that in The States such are to signify their association to the Elder they are at the events with so other vampires do not harass them for their presence," Walter replied. "I am not certain off hand of all the sigils and their corresponding American vampires. If you are in need of such information, I can obtain it readily enough from the website they use, as their sigils are a part of their individual profiles. As you can see, while Ms. Dreux-Brézé wears various accessories that clearly bear Liam's sigil, she has no permanent marking such as a few humans are shown to bear. One would logically guess from such that they are on a less intimate level of association than those humans who bear an Elder's sigil as a tattoo."

"Indeed," Alucard agreed. "And whatever their association, it's not just Mercedes Iscariot is after, but her son as well. Therefore a connection to Liam specifically, or vampires in general, may not be why Iscariot is targeting them."

"How do you know they are likewise targeting her son?" Walter asked in surprise.

Alucard smirked, imagining that Walter was probably glancing over all his paperwork to look for some clue. He hadn't told his servant about Mercedes and her son's powers, nor informed him about her vision. Alucard had informed him of the attack that had been hired, that he had reason to believe Iscariot was targeting her, and told Walter to do a full background check on the human and then investigate anything that was remotely worth investigating among her closest connections.

"Call it a fairly-substantiated hunch," Alucard said neutrally. "But it makes it all the more strange that Iscariot is after them."

"Master Alucard, may I inquire just why you wished such a thorough background check on this lead?"

"Besides the fact that she is our best lead thus far, especially with Iscariot being so uncharitably silent in what they are planning and so careful in guarding their operatives?" Alucard asked bluntly and with a clear tone of displeasure at being questioned. "That should be reason enough to investigate any aspects of her background that may give some clue as to why Iscariot is targeting her and the boy."

"Of course, Master Alucard," Walter agreed, knowing when not to inquire further. "Is there anything further you would like me to investigate?"

"Not at the moment, but remain available should I need you," Alucard said in a less agitated voice. "When is the Police Girl returning from her assignment?"

"Her flight is scheduled to land early Friday morning," Walter replied immediately. "Which will be Thursday evening for you in the States."

"Contact her and tell her that when she returns I want her be at the manor, rather than her own flat, and waiting with you for any further orders I may have for you two. After you do so, get yourself something to drink and then get some rest."

"Is there anything I should be having myself and Miss Seras prepare for?"

"Not anything more than usual when dealing with Iscariot," Alucard said, irritable again. "I'd simply rather not have to make multiple calls to reach my own servants right now should I need send them out on another assignment or research some other aspect of this convoluted case."

"I will contact Miss Seras and be certain she knows to remain in her civilian attire and bring her standard weapons when she arrives."

"Thank you, Walter." Alucard disconnected the call without further exchange.

Already well enough rested from his nap, Alucard spent the next few hours trying to figure out just what it was that Iscariot was up to this time and how killing the humans fit into their motivations.

He looked over all the reports they had on Iscariot's activities, photographs and information known of operatives that had been coming into the Archdiocese, and Mercedes's dossier. Such activity as Iscariot had been having did not coincide with the attack in the near future on the humans. Anderson in and of himself was overkill for such an objective and would be put to better use heading something like a sweep and clean against the Elders, not taking out a couple of humans. Never mind the other operatives that would be sent and the several dozens of others entering the Archdiocese.

Alucard had been to the Archdiocese again earlier in the day and there had been no new operatives entering or leaving during the six hours he had laid in wait. The last operatives he had gotten his hands on was the team he had caught on Friday on their way out of the airport as Walter had found out in advance when they were landing. Most of the operatives were traveling under newly issued aliases and weren't booking their tickets in advance, instead buying them at the terminal. Such made it difficult to sift through incoming flight records and find an operative or group of operatives among all the civilians before they had already landed and scurried off. And as they were flying out of multiple countries, Alucard's limited servants, even with their own contacts, couldn't cover all the departing airports even if they tried. The operatives he had caught here in Philadelphia were doctors of various fields who were all apart of Iscariot, though they had not previously been assigned to the same team to work together.

Which meant they could have been brought together for some sort of research, or Iscariot was preparing for an attack and wanting as many internal, rather that civilian, medical teams available for tending injured operatives.

Or anything in between.

As Alucard had told Mercedes, the team hadn't been given any information on why their presence was wanted. They were good little Catholic dogs who had gone where told without question.

A janitor had left earlier today and Alucard had drained him to see if he could discover anything going on within the building as service personnel could often be a weak link their superiors overlooked. Unfortunately, service personnel were not being allowed into the secured floors where the operatives were gathered. Even food deliveries were left in an adjoining hall and then retrieved by guards and brought in. The only useful information that he got from the janitor was the narrowing down of where in the building Iscariot was confining itself to.

Part of the problem was they also had enchanted wards up that were keeping vampiric senses from being able to penetrate into the building. Alucard would be able to easily phase into the building, and his senses would likely work once inside, but until he entered he'd be fighting blind. Whatever Iscariot was up to, they were going to great pains to keep it secret.

While he was confident he could clear out the Archdiocese and all the Iscariot rats hiding in there, Alucard liked having information before going in for a slaughter. Having been once bound in servitude to Hellsing had given him a healthy caution for what humans could accomplish with their magic tricks. While Alucard had respect for the Hellsing family as the courageous and honorable victors they had been upon his initial defeat, being chained to servitude for near a hundred years was something the progenitor of vampires resented and was not the least inclined to having repeated.

Though Alucard and his servants had no knowledge, at the moment, of Iscariot currently having special agents outside of Anderson, the wards on the Archdiocese indicated that as a possibility. As did the seer sensing someone watching her after the first attack. Anderson was capable of such wards, but he only just arrived in The States and the wards were preexisting his arrival. It could be that one of the local priests was trained to create such holy barriers and was otherwise a normal human. Alucard had had too many dealings with Iscariot, however, to assume that something that simple and easily handled was the case.

And Iscariot rooting around in their hole aside, there was the previous attack on Mercedes, posing as a rape attempt, that was not Iscariot's usual MO. Nor did the redhead appear in the Iscariot files. But Walter hadn't turned up any likely outside sources for an attack and Mercedes didn't seem to have knowledge of any others who might wish to kill her. Nor did she recognize the redhead. While it was plausible the two events could be unrelated, it did suspiciously coincide with the timing of Iscariot's activities and the future targeting of the woman.

Perhaps it had been an attempt to feel out the enchantress' ability to defend herself for the second attack, but Alucard knew definitively that there wasn't anyone in the area observing the results of the fight. She also hadn't displayed her powers against the human attackers and she said she was generally quite reluctant to display them in most situations because she was trying to be cautious to protect herself and her son.

Despite the infuriating lack of information on Iscariot's motives, and whether or not the first attack was related or not, Alucard did believe that the Iscariot attack was going to come as Mercedes saw and that it was indeed a vision.

Mercedes tried to keep the rest of her thoughts private when she allowed him to see the vision, Alucard could give the human credit for her skills. But he was the progenitor of vampires and he had encountered seers in his past, so he was well aware of their abilities, limitations and what signs to look for. While he had been in her mind, Alucard had been able to discretely read enough of her memories from before calling for him, without her becoming aware of the extra searching, to find that she did truly have visions and that this was one. With everything happening with Iscariot and the timing of her vision, Alucard had no compunctions in doing so to make sure this was not a false claim or deception meant to lead him into an elaborate trap.

Everything Alucard could sense out in her mind pointed to truth about having visions, the vision itself, along with absolute terror upon waking, and her complete and utter confusion about Iscariot's plans. He hadn't told her about the ulterior motive in her being attacked the other night as he still didn't have the full details. He felt no need to make her aware and divide her attention when she didn't recognize the red-head anyway and couldn't think of someone who may have a serious grudge against her.

Iscariot liked having special pets on hand for their schemes and aims, so Alucard was almost surprised that they had not instead attempted to approach Mercedes with an offer to work for them. That they knew she and her son had powers was not open for question in Alucard's mind, only to what extent was Iscariot's knowledge. In the vision, Anderson did not seem the least surprised to see the demonic snake, so they had some intel on the two humans.

Mercedes was in truth raised in a hereditarily-noble family by her mother's side. As she had stated, her maternal grandfather resided in the United States though he was born in, and spent much time in, France and held the title of Marquis by his own hereditary rights. Her maternal grandmother was the middle daughter of another Marquis, raised in France and moved to the United States upon her marriage. According to Walter's research, a few other relatives were married to other remaining noble blood lines of various European nationalities and ranks, including a great aunt by marriage who was a German Baroness, a great uncle by marriage who held a similar French hereditary title of Viscomt, and her aunt's husband who was an Italian Conte.

As such, Mercedes had been raised enmeshed in the Catholic religion and she was human, even if she was no longer a practicing Catholic and had a few vampire friends. From everything her dossier showed, Mercedes wasn't involved with anything that was a direct threat towards Iscariot and she lived a fairly quiet life. Even the heiress's contributions to pagan organizations appeared to be for community networking publications, holiday family-friendly festivals, and eco-friendly projects; not anti-christian rabble rousers by any means.

Liam was an Elder vampire, and he had repelled Iscariot's attacks before, but he was not one to deliberately incense the Catholics or seek out trouble.

'Although, if Liam had taken an aggressive stance and actually drove Iscariot out once and for all, instead of constantly flitting from one social engagement to the next, the Catholics wouldn't have gained this strong of a foothold to operate out of for the east coast,' the progenitor of vampires thought in disdain. 'They would also be far less inclined to repeatedly attempt anything in this area on a large scale for fear of being halted in their steps or being dealt more devastating retribution.'

Alucard found that lack of initiative on Liam and the other Elders' parts to be a serious contributor to this whole situation and it was lowering his views on the local vampires from previous estimates of their worth.

Even with a connection to Liam or Davin, the Elder who seemed to be present in social pictures the most when Liam was not and had likewise attended to matters for her mother's funeral, it would be well worth it to an organization like Iscariot to at least make the attempt to bring Mercedes back to her family's religion, away from her vampire connections, and under the church's services to make use of her powers and perhaps her family connections through her. Her ties to the local vampires would even be almost invaluable to Iscariot if they managed to turn her against the vampires as she'd have inside knowledge of at least their regular haunts and homes, and likely even more valuable information beyond that.

Alucard didn't privately think Iscariot would have much luck in such an endeavor given how independent and opinionated Mercedes seemed to be, along with her obvious loyalty to those vampire friends who had supported her during an emotionally trying time. But Iscariot's estimation on the human would be derived from information more circumspect than his own estimates from personally interacting with the heiress. They would likely not realize (especially with their arrogance) how hopeless their attempt to reclaim the human would be.

Mercedes not likely being a willing ally, though, Alucard could see Iscariot having better luck with a young child like her son if they killed his mother discreetly. Iscariot could then take control of the young heir's upbringing by placing him in her catholic family's hands and have one of their agents placed at their favored church to get close to them and the boy. Especially as Anderson had a soft spot for children, it would seem more likely for the priest to kill the mother and then either place the boy with family or bring him to the orphanage Anderson himself helped to run to raise the boy to be a tool of the church.

Which could have been a motivation in the attack Sunday. Except, of course, Iscariot wasn't bothering to make a future attempt to try to reclaim either human. They would be going straight for the kill and Anderson was going to personally kill the boy along with the mother. Which made that theory highly unlikely.

It appeared Mercedes was, at the very least, close to her grandparents from phone and travel records; along with her grandparents being willing to hire lawyers on her behalf against her mother, their own daughter. Mercedes herself indicated she was close to them and mentioned she had been on the phone with her grandmother when she had crossed paths with Anderson. And it was clear from the picture during her mother's funeral that, whatever problems they had had, Mercedes had been deeply grieved by her mother's death. The media reports stated the heiress had spent two full weeks after her mother's death with her family.

While noble titles didn't hold much power in the modern world, as they once did centuries ago when they were more than just a social courtesy based on heritage of note, they weren't entirely meaningless. Not when the titles accompanied families who still had substantial wealth and had various members involved with politics and the modern equivalent of high society. French titles might not technically bear any weight in most governments, but the influence of those old blood families still lingered with those they had made connections to, and non-nobles liked to be able to feel special by knowing and doing favors for what was left of the nobility. Iscariot killing the heiress and her child could lose them the general support of extensive financial contributions her grandparents and other family members made through the catholic churches if Iscariot was connected to her death and the organization's roots became known. Even if Iscariot wasn't concerned with the financial loss, they could still end up with a great deal of political and legal pressure put on them, not to mention wide-scale public exposure, for such an act by the fairly well connected family.

Iscariot was filled with fanatics, but, as Alucard had said, they weren't stupid. Being intelligent fanatics is why they had survived this long, in addition to the deep pockets of the Vatican keeping them funded.

Killing operatives for a secret organization like Hellsing, or some nameless human who had been picked up off the streets and was kept as a plaything by a common vampire, was one thing.

Killing aristocrats- especially a young child, as such was generally considered even more heinous, particularly in modern times- who are close with their family was quite another matter.

Iscariot wasn't stupid and they'd fully realize the same things Alucard did with but a glance at whatever information they could likewise dredge up on the humans.

It was possible that Iscariot was targeting Mercedes and her son because they were uneasy with the heiress associating with a vampire, concerned that the vampire would use her as a tool for his own aims. However, while Mercedes's family was wealthy and had various connections, Liam was an Elder with an obscene amount of wealth, (supposedly inherited from his father, who inherited from an uncle, etc..) His net worth was publicized as being in the billions, with his business ventures extending to many fields of interest that continued to expand his wealth. The social butterfly of an Elder was associated with many people of standing in entertainment, business, and politics.

Liam was inarguably one of those individuals referred to as the modern aristocracy. The Elder was hardly in need of the relatively lesser resources he could acquire through association with Mercedes. And again, there was the fact that the two appeared to be only friends, as stated when Liam was interviewed during the events surrounding Mercedes's mother's suicide. It was not as though they were acknowledged paramours or formally courting and attending social events as such, which would subsequently give Liam far more access to Mercedes's family's connections than he would have as a friend who kept such an association almost entirely unacknowledged except in extenuating circumstances.

And unless Iscariot killed those Elders who were on close terms with Mercedes at the same time they killed her; the vampires, who had previously met her family during a time of crisis, would have enough rapport with said family that they could very likely point them in the right direction for where the blame lay for these newest shocking deaths. Along with the Elders using their own vast connections to likewise cause a great deal of trouble for the Catholics. While Iscariot could be planning a wide spread sweep and clean, extending out to include Mercedes and her son, they would have to be quite certain of their success in fully eliminating all targets in a very brief span of time to make so bold a move.

One could wonder if their doctors and scientists being gathered were plotting towards some unprecedented biological warfare to aid such a prolific attack. Yet Alucard's interception of one of the medical teams showed that the doctors had no previous connection to one another, nor knowledge of why they were being flown to the city. Iscariot wouldn't be calling in so many of their agents into a city run by vampires to be the base of a fledgling research project. Something of that nature would be conducted elsewhere, some place where it wouldn't easily attract attention and run such a high risk of being destroyed before it can even begin, and then the results brought in to aid the attack teams once completed.

Despite what Alucard could currently deduce of the situation at the present time, it was undeniable that Iscariot did have some reason for passing up the opportunity to possibly gain such valuable resources or choosing to simply leave the heiress and her son alone to lead their mostly quiet lives.

Whatever the reason was, Mercedes didn't know the answer and Walter's research likewise hadn't provided one. And whatever that reason, it was somehow a piece of the puzzle with Iscariot, but not the whole picture.

'Just what in the deepest pits of hell are you rats plotting towards in that filthy nest of yours?' Alucard wondered with a great deal of aggravation, running a long-fingered hand through his shaggy hair, pushing his bangs out of his eyes as he studied all the reports.


	8. Chapter 8 The Trap Is Set, Wait Begins

Chapter Eight

The Trap is Set, The Wait Begins

Mercedes spent the day cooking up a couple of meals for the remainder of the week, cleaning house, doing laundry and playing games with Xander. Anything she could think of to keep her mind busy. She was careful to keep her emotions well shielded and thankfully the young boy didn't seem to notice anything amiss.

One of Mercedes's greatest concerns, outside of immediate survival, was trying to shield her son as best as she could when Iscariot attacked. Both from physical harm during the attack, and from long term emotional damage should the fight make its way to the bedroom and he witness it. She wasn't quite sure how or if she could manage that, and it was causing her a great deal of anxiety when she thought on it. She had worked as hard as she could to give her son a stable, happy life this long, with as much normalcy as could be done for their circumstances, and now all that was being threatened.

Val called on her lunch break. Mercedes remembered she was supposed to be acting normal and so she accepted the call. She asked Val if she was free to watch Xander so she could head out with Liam for a night. Val teased Mercedes about the increasing frequency of time spent with Liam and said she was fairly certain she was free that weekend. Mercedes ignored the teasing and thanked her best friend for being willing to watch Xander. Val made mention that she was going to be leaving earlier on Sunday afternoon than usual as her grandfather was feeling ill again and her grandparents needed some help with housework. They discussed some plans for movies they wanted to rent and watch Saturday night and possibly bringing Xander out to one of the kids' museums Sunday morning before Val had to head home.

Later that afternoon, Mercedes's best friend since middle school called her between her college classes. Their calls lately had been sporadic with Mercedes working nights and Darcy back in school during the day. Once Darcy got out of college, she was busy trying to deal with her husband in the evenings, who was depressed about being released from the military and not having found a civilian job in the last year, and taking care of their son, who was still a toddler. Mercedes only had a few minutes to chat with Darcy about their sons before Darcy had to duck into her next class, but she did her best to try cheering her other sister-figure up as Darcy had a lot on her plate to handle on a daily basis, as opposed to her own more recent but short-term stress.

When it was time to prepare to leave for work, Mercedes's anxiety began to return with greater force than before. She passed along Xander-duties to Geina with a heavy heart, though she tried to keep hidden her reluctance to leave. Geina didn't seem to notice anything was wrong, the elderly woman having been pounced and distracted by an excited Xander the moment she walked through the door. Mercedes could sense Alucard nearby and waiting as she said goodnight to Geina and gave Xander an extra big hug and kiss.

"Good evening, Alucard," Mercedes said as she stepped outside the building and saw Alucard waiting a few steps from the door.

"Good evening, Mercedes." Alucard tipped his hat to her and smirked. "I see you followed my advice as far as the change in accessories to work is concerned. I will be following you in a form you will not be able to see, but I will be within a close proximity and such form will allow me to better view your travel to insure there are no surprises. After you arrive at your work, I will be alternating between here and there to watch for activity from Iscariot."

Mercedes nodded and Alucard dissolved into a shadow to disappear into the growing shadows of evening. She could still sense the vampire's presence but, as he said, she could not see him.

Mercedes lit a cigarette as she made her way to the bus stop in an attempt to calm her nerves. She could sense Alucard prodding at the edge of her mind. Considering that they were now working together on this Iscariot issue, and attempting to be covert about it, Mercedes opened her thoughts to hear what the vampire needed to say.

"I will be spending most of my time here, as this is the site of the attack that will happen and you are capable of calling to me should Iscariot attempt to foolishly attack you in public and holding them off until I arrive. Stop appearing so tense or you could alert someone that something is wrong should you pass by a surveillance team that I don't discover first."

"I'm doing the best I can," Mercedes thought with no shortage of irritation. "It's not just myself being used as bait, but my son. I don't think any mother in her right mind would be singing show tunes and giggling like a school girl as she leaves her kid in such a situation."

"Probably not, but you need to make an attempt to look less like you're walking towards the executioner."

"You said tonight could be one of the more likely evenings for attack. For all I know, I'm walking away from the executioner and leaving my son to the chopping block!"

"Actually, I'm giving you both my attention and yet sparing you both from the block. That seems reason enough to appear less upset."

Mercedes did not find the comment nearly as humorous as the vampire.

Alucard added in a more sober tone, "Your concern is understandable, little mouse, but he'll be fine for the short period of time it will take to escort you to work. I swept the area before appearing outside your apartment and Iscariot is nowhere to be found right now. Providing nothing occurs out of the ordinary to make them change their plans from what your vision showed, the attack won't come until you are both here and supposedly asleep."

Mercedes didn't have anything to say to that logic as she knew from past experience that it was true, so she continued smoking her cigarette and attempted to look less upset.

"I suppose that's a passable expression," Alucard's voice entered her thoughts after a minute.

Mercedes used her middle finger to 'itch' the corner of her eye. She could hear Alucard's laughter echo in her thoughts, which was a rather chilling experience she'd rather not have had.

"That's hardly polite considering the effort I'm extending on your behalf."

Mercedes did her best not to laugh at that, as being chastised on politeness by the volatile vampire was ironic to the extreme. "Aiding me helps yourself. And after the fright you gave me the other night, I think the gesture is only fair."

"In all fairness," Alucard said with an immensely amused tone, "I did have my hound eat your attackers."

"True. But then you slammed me into a wall," Mercedes countered pointedly.

"You interfered with my hound."

"I revealed my energy to him and told him to heel. It's not like I destroyed him."

"You still interfered with my hound, Seer."

"You can't use the same argument twice, Alucard, and he was stalking towards me and looked like he might make the attempt to eat me."

"I told you I didn't intend for him to eat you."

"You indicated you might though."

"Touché. But I did say it was only a possibility, depending on your answers to my questions," Alucard's voice remained amused, and imperious, as he countered her arguments. "You answered those questions and I have yet to drain you."

"Coming from an unknown vampire with your sort of powers, that offer of only possibly was not the slightest reassuring."

"You still made the choice not to try answering the questions to see where that would get you."

"You stalked me afterwards, that's where running into you got me."

"To gain aforementioned answers and then to follow up on this lead with Iscariot."

"You're using my son and I as bait."

"Which is still less likely to end in your death than if I did not get involved directly and make such a plan. Which you well know, enemy of my enemy, as you are the one who called me for aid and explained how your visions work for me to plan around."

Mercedes huffed a defeated sigh. "Then I suppose I have no argument for the gesture after all except that you are insufferably arrogant, not to mention often insulting, and insensitive with the repeated threats to eat me should I aggravate you in any number of fashions."

"I'm the original damned sire of all vampires. The Vampire King without match in powers derived from the forces of primordial darkness. From the moment I first came to exist in this world to present day, I have been enmeshed in war and all the sanguine aspects that accompany it. And you expect me to be a 'nice' person?" Alucard sounded genuinely and deeply insulted by the concept.

"Touché, Your Majesty," Mercedes replied mischievously and saying the title with a hint of sarcasm. "Better a temperamental and blood-thirsty vampire with a penchant for effectively slaughtering his enemies to help fight against Iscariot than something akin to a chaste and pacifistic, glittering fey-with-fangs."

The empathic young woman could sense an instantaneous level of irritation surging from the progenitor of vampires.

"If you dare tell me seriously that you enjoy that series, I swear I will change my view on your intelligence and drain you now as a favor to your child so as not to subject him to growing up with such a pitiful and detrimental excuse of both literature and vampire-lore."

Mercedes couldn't help but allow her laughter to vent mentally, as she was afraid she'd otherwise burst into laughter as she waited for the bus and look like a mental patient for laughing at seemingly nothing. She could sense Alucard's aggravation increase further.

"Alucard, did you see that trash on my bookshelves or in my dvd collection?"

"No, I did not," Alucard conceded. Mercedes could sense his aggravation lessening somewhat.

"I loathe that series, though clearly not as much as you do," Mercedes replied, still amused by the vampire's indignant outburst. "Those books are only fit for kindling."

"Agreed. I did however notice that you own Bram Stoker's 'Dracula'," Alucard said with smug satisfaction. "Along with several other fictional stories with myself as the main character, compendiums of supposed real stories, compilations on stories and studies of vampires or similar demonic beings, a number of biographies about my human life and the surrounding political situations, as well as those members of my human family, several historical dissertations on my former country, along with maps and economic studies of it. You have books on a vast array of subjects, but books somehow tied to myself outnumber any other subject at least ten to one."

Mercedes's amusement had ended as abruptly as it had started when Alucard stated his observation. "Your point?"

"I do wonder why that is."

"I'm a history buff with vampire friends. Why do you think I'd look into the stories of the original vampire?" the heiress replied flatly, a faint blush on her cheeks from the embarrassment of needing to explain herself. "Obviously some of what is written is incorrect, and much is fiction, as nearly all the stories end in your final death yet I am still speaking with you right now. But I did want to see if there were any parallels and possible truths hidden in the works that explained how the father of vampires came to be and eventually led to those I call friends. That led to exploring a great deal about the culture and circumstances of your human life, and what information was written about vampires and similar daimons in general, to try finding answers."

"Hm…" Alucard said silkily. "So such extensive research, that includes some rather rare volumes and seems to border on obsession, was purely an academic interest, Seer?"

"Alucard, if you attempt again to insinuate the ulterior motive I think you're arrogantly suggesting," it was Mercedes's turn to reply in irritation, "I will find a way to permanently end your narcissistic undead existence for the sake of principle alone."

Alucard's manic laughter once more echoed in her mind. "I think the lady doth protest too much," the progenitor of vampires taunted. "Could it be I've struck a nerve?"

"I think the vampire's ego hath been fed too much."

"Mercedes, such a thing as ego being overfed is not possible where one as exemplary as myself is concerned," Alucard said with certainty.

And with that, the vampire broke off the mental contact, keeping Mercedes from making another counter-argument and effectively winning the debate by having the last word.

Mercedes huffed again in irritation, mentally cursing out the vampire as she noticed the bus was down the street and approaching. Mercedes flicked what remained of her cigarette to the ground and boarded. She made sure her mental barriers were once more well in place so her thoughts would be private should Alucard attempt to poke at them. She smiled to the driver, who was the regular for this route, and exchanged familiar greetings before taking a seat.

The young noble woman spent most of the ride downtown fuming over the insufferable vampire ego inflated to royal proportions that she was having to deal with.

Then Mercedes realized something. The banter had diverted her attention from her stress over leaving her son.

'…I wonder if he did that intentionally or if it was just a side effect of his boundless conceit…'

After several moments of thought, Mercedes decided it was definitely the latter combined with not wanting to expose their counter-plot to Iscariot should she appear to differ from her usual behavior.

.

.

.

Mercedes made it safely to work without incident from Iscariot or further argument with the vampire. Once she was inside the bar, the seer could sense Alucard's presence retreating to survey the area, then it disappeared altogether.

CJ was already at work and Tony was scheduled to arrive an hour after Mercedes.

Mercedes attempted to conduct herself in a "business as normal" fashion, but it became quickly apparent that CJ could tell something was wrong.

"Mercedes?" the frosted blonde asked during a lull half an hour into their joint shift. "You alright?"

"Yeah, of course," Mercedes replied with a smile, wiping down the mat at her section of the bar.

"You seem a bit distracted today," CJ nodded to the spilled liquor Mercedes had just finished cleaning.

"Everyone misses a bottle toss once and awhile, CJ."

The young woman grabbed a packet of sours mix to stir up and chill as it was one of their most frequently used drink components and her current jug was already nearly half empty. Mercedes hoped CJ would drop the subject as she really did not want to have to try coming up with a deception as a cover. Her mind kept returning to the impending attack from Iscariot and she was having a harder time diverting the thoughts with not being near her son and able to protect him directly.

"No, most people miss a bottle toss on occasion. I've never seen you and your cat-like reflexes miss one," CJ said matter-of-factly. "And you've had kind of this distracted look on your face since you walked in."

"Then I was obviously well overdue and I am not certain what you mean," Mercedes said carefully, trying to sound perplexed and hoping CJ would get the point she didn't want to discuss this further.

CJ gave his co-worker and friend another scrutinizing look with dark brown eyes as he changed out a couple bottles from his house rack that were empty. Suddenly CJ's tanned face lit up.

"Ah ha! I know what it is!" CJ exclaimed confidently and pointed at Mercedes.

Mercedes gave CJ an unfeigned confused look, wondering why he looked so excited all of a sudden. She didn't have to wait long to find out.

"It's that man candy that was in here a few nights ago, isn't it?! You're thinking about tall, dark and sexy aren't you, you little minx? Have you seen him again or is that distracted look because you're looking forward to another meeting? How long did you say he'd be in town for?"

Mercedes looked at CJ in shocked disbelief before bursting out into laughter at how off the mark he was. Granted, he wouldn't have any way of knowing the truth, but leave it to CJ to automatically think whatever her problems were, they had to do with man trouble and/or sex.

'Well, technically, I guess they do involve Alucard, but certainly not in the way CJ thinks,' Mercedes thought in self-deprecating amusement, filling a jug with cold water. Out loud she said with a hint of genuine exasperation, "Why is it that everyone seems to think my love life is open for constant discussion and the cause of all my troubles?"

"Because you're a foxy young woman and yet you have no love life to speak of," CJ said with a grin. "It's downright criminal hunny. Obviously it's the root of a number of troubles and getting laid by a stud muffin like your friend from the other night would do you a world of good."

Mercedes stopped what she was doing as she looked at CJ. "Oh my gods, CJ! Really?!" she exclaimed, not bothering to hide her irritation and disapproval. "A guy shows up one night to walk me home and you think he's the answer to my stress?!"

The pagan priestess wasn't against sex outside of marriage, people of her faith had differing views on sex than christians, but she was horrified by the idea CJ so openly suggested as she knew how very bad of an idea it was, especially given the other party specifically mentioned.

Mercedes was also very glad that Alucard had left to keep a watch for Iscariot as she could just imagine how much amusement the vampire would be finding in her discomfort were he present to hear the conversation.

"Ah, yeah," CJ said as if it was the most obvious answer in the world. "I haven't seen any other guys making the gesture lately. Mama hen is always taking care of the little chick. She could use a bit of cock in her life and that strapping blue ribbon cock seemed willing."

Mercedes looked at CJ with wide eyes and sputtered a moment, not knowing how to answer that at first. "Ok, first, stop referring to me as various animals!" she demanded when her brain finally kicked back into gear and her mouth could form words. "It's just disturbing. Secondly, hell will have surely frozen over before I sleep with the man in question. Our acquaintance is not of that nature in the least. Third, if I need…" Mercedes trailed off, not wanting to be as crass as CJ had been.

"A cock?" CJ had no such compunctions.

"Yeah… That… There is the wonderful invention of a Battery Operated Boyfriend that helps with any stress and then hides neatly away in my underwear drawer or closet. I don't need to go jumping every man who crosses my path just to relieve a momentary whim!"

"Hunny, that's just pathetic and you know it. BOBs aren't any match for the real thing," CJ said with a smirk.

Mercedes shook her head in aggravation and poured the sours mix into the jug. "This coming from the man who has a new specimen of 'the real thing' every few weeks. At least BOBs don't come with the risk of pregnancy, STDs, or infidelity."

"Hey!" CJ tried to sound insulted and failed entirely because he really wasn't. "First off, I like variety. Secondly, I have yet to get an STD as I use the second best invention, an awesome little thing called a condom. Third, as a man who has sex with other men, I don't have to worry about pregnancy."

"That still leaves infidelity. And as a woman, I do have to worry about the other two. Condoms also don't prevent every STD from being contracted, and they're not foolproof." Mercedes added with a triumphant smirk, "And I like variety just as much as anyone and BOBs come in all shapes, sizes, and functions, without feeling guilty for not sticking with only one."

"True, but they also don't keep you warm on those cold lonely nights," CJ argued, still smirking right back. "And they don't bring you flowers and gifts for holidays or anniversaries, nor cheer you up when you're feeling down."

Mercedes couldn't help the wry thought that the person CJ seemed to ignorantly think would make a good replacement for her BOB also wouldn't do any of those things. Or, in the case of the first, physically couldn't as he was a vampire and therefore didn't have the same body heat capabilities as a human. CJ's argument was entirely invalid, even if she couldn't say such as that would encourage CJ to ask why specifically that was.

CJ continued on, "I have yet to find the man I want to be tied down to Happily Ever After with, but when I do, you can be sure I'll be sticking a ring on him and not letting him go. All the others that I was having fun with won't even be in my mind."

"Yeah, well, you can stick a ring on them, but doesn't mean it'll stay stuck," Mercedes said with a roll of her eyes and shook up the sours mix.

The seer had a sudden mortifying thought come to her, given current conversation, and stopped shaking the mix. Mercedes realized that if Alucard could use his vampiric senses to find all her weapons as he had, he may have also seen certain personal items along the nature of those mentioned that she kept hidden away from the prying little eyes of her ever curious child.

A blush rose to her cheeks and Mercedes shook the sours mix more vigorously as she tried not to think about that humiliating possibility. The last thing she needed was the progenitor of vampires knowing her sexual preferences.

"Ya know," CJ said with a chuckle, "with motions like that, it's a wonder men aren't lining up out the door for you to give them a bit of stroking. I should be taking notes."

Mercedes stopped and glared over her shoulder. "Is it possible for you to get your mind out of the gutter for more than thirty seconds, CJ?"

"Um…" CJ appeared to give the matter serious thought. "Nope."

The frosted blonde haired bartender gave a 'you know you love me' grin and chuckled as he went out back to grab another tray of beer mugs. Mercedes finished shaking up the sours mix, put the jug in the fridge beneath the counter and silently prayed Tony would show up soon so CJ would have another target to tease.

Tony did arrive shortly thereafter. However, upon hearing that Mercedes missed a bottle toss for the first time and CJ's speculations on why that was, Tony joined in on the teasing.

Being the only female bartender at the bar could sometimes be like walking around with a target on her back.

Finally exasperated with the both of them, Mercedes grabbed the soda gun and sent a quick spray of 7up at her coworkers. CJ and Tony yelled indignantly as they grabbed for towels to wipe the sticky liquid off themselves.

Thankfully, they both left the subject alone after the soda reprimand, but Mercedes was at least somewhat distracted from her other worries.


	9. Chapter 9 Breaking Up The Monotony

Chapter Nine

Breaking up the Monotony

Alucard was finishing another round of monitoring Mercedes's neighborhood and found nothing amiss so far. This was the third check tonight. The cars parked in the streets were all without passengers or monitoring devices. A small construction company van parked behind the apartment building across the street from Mercedes's building was likewise empty and contained only sheetrock, plaster, paint and other building materials.

Mental scans found nothing but residents thinking asinine daily thoughts. The child was deep asleep in his bed, wrapped up in his blanket with a ridiculously large stuffed dragon, and therefore obviously not under attack.

The progenitor of vampires did find the choice in stuffed animals for the noble child a passing amusement, given that her grandfather's family crest had griffons and her grandmother's was without animals, yet his own family crest was a dragon. Alucard wondered who had bought the stuffed animal for the ebon haired child, and their reason for doing so. If she had lived in these modern times, it was the sort of thing he could imagine his wife to have done for their son to be playfully teasing of his family's house name and symbol. Mihnea had idolized his father and anything to do with their house, even though the former prince had been absent much of his son's young life due to the war he had been fighting. His son would have adored such a toy at that age and wouldn't have understood the subtle teasing his mother was making with the gift…

That line of contemplation barely lasted a minute in total before the vampire realized where his wistful thoughts had gone and furiously shoved the thoughts out of his mind. He wasn't that man anymore. He wasn't even human. He didn't have a human family to concern himself over. His wife was dead and his son was murdered. He was the Vampire King and his life was dedicated to battling those he deemed fit to unleash his powers and rage on, and simply finding some pleasurable diversions between the slaughters. It did no good to think about the past or things that could have been were they different. All it did was push him closer to the brink of insanity, and he had had enough of that over the centuries that he wasn't going to allow it to happen again.

Alucard instead shifted his attention to read the elderly baby sitter's mind from a distance and found nothing to indicate she was a spy for Iscariot planted to watch the family.

Alucard even went so far as to peer into many of the apartments and houses around the immediate neighborhood, especially the empty building being renovated across the street from Mercedes's apartment building; just to be certain there weren't any Iscariot operatives, capable of shielding their thoughts to avoid detection, hiding out to survey Mercedes's apartment. The vampire found nothing to be concerned with. Except perhaps one rather large, hairy-bodied, balding man's apparent fixation with masturbating to hermaphroditic tentacle hentai who lived down the street from Mercedes.

Alucard shuddered as he recalled that unexpected and disgusting sight. He'd never entirely understand human mentality. Even when he had been in human flesh, he hadn't thought along the same lines as other humans in most circumstances. Six hundred years of being a vampire had only served to widen that difference in views.

The Vampire King sighed impatiently, wishing even a single member of Iscariot would show themselves so he could have some sort of diversion and a few answers. Alucard was still no closer to having the answers to questions he had been thinking of all evening. This was becoming insufferably dull and therefore extremely aggravating.

Alucard made his way back towards the part of Philadelphia dubbed "Center City" in his shadow state. It was a clear muggy night and a misty fog would stand out as an oddity. The fog was definitely a more useful state of movement in a place like England.

As Alucard swiftly passed over and around buildings, he caught sight of a pair of thugs halfway up a side alley that was otherwise empty.

'Hm… A bite to eat sounds like a reasonable idea on such a lovely yet dreadfully uneventful evening.' The vampire gave a malicious smirk as he dropped down from the sky silently.

Alucard materialized behind the two humans and began to follow after them with long measured strides that intentionally made his boot heels echo off the close set walls of the surrounding buildings crowded together.

The thugs in front of the vampire stopped walking and turned around, obviously surprised to find someone following them when they had previously thought themselves alone. The lighter one on the left nudged the darker one on the right with a smirk. The darker one chuckled and nodded. Both waited for Alucard to approach before speaking.

"What 'chu be doin' here so late at night, white boy?" the darker one asked with a heavy south-west Philly accent, glancing at the vampire's suit, long jacket, fedora and glasses. "Yous some sortta cop or yous just stupid and be lookin' fo' trouble?"

"I think he's lookin' for trouble," the lighter one said. "Pigs don't wear sunglasses at night. He's tryin' to look intimidating."

The darker one laughed. "Too bad that look went out 'bout thirty years ago. Though that is a pretty bangin' jacket he's wearing."

Alucard looked down at his crimson duster and smirked. "Why, thank you. Though, I must say, it offends the coat to have trash compliment it."

"Did you just call us trash?" the lighter one asked, fist clenching at his side.

"Do you have a hearing problem to match your companion's speech problem?" Alucard asked wryly. "Yes, simple minded punk, I did call you trash."

"Who the fuck do yous think yous are, rollin' up in our turf an' insultin' us?" the darker one asked angrily, hand shifting to his hip a few inches.

"I'm a bit higher on the predatory food chain than you, that's who I am," Alucard said with a broader provoking smirk.

"You stupid asshat," the lighter one said, his hand creeping towards his jean jacket. "I think you owe us an apology before you find yourself in more trouble than you can handle."

"I doubt two bottom feeders such as yourselves will be much trouble to handle," Alucard said, already becoming irritated with their lacking observations and motor skills. "And I'm thinking I can make much better use of you two as corpses than you'd find use for yourselves in your pathetic wasted existences."

The two thugs exchanged infuriated looks.

"That's it, jack off, yous in need of some schoolin' on how things be workin' on these streets!" the darker one said. He and his friend withdrew guns from where they were tucked and pointed them at Alucard.

Alucard raised an eyebrow and smirked. "It will take more than those puny guns to keep me from ending your sorry lives."

"Puny? This is a .45, you idiot," the lighter one said. "Here's a closer look for ya." He fired and a bullet went tearing into Alucard's right shoulder.

Alucard glanced down with an immensely bored expression, watching a tiny trickle of blood flow.

The two thugs exchanged confused looks, not firing again as they wondered why he didn't yell in pain or even react to being shot.

"Is that all the defense you have?" Alucard asked as he removed his glasses with his right hand just to illustrate how little the shot had effected him. He turned fiery red eyes on the thugs and gave a disappointed shake of his head. His elongated teeth flashed in the poor lighting as he continued to speak, the vampire intentionally showing them off. "Here I was hoping you'd be a little more entertaining than that before I drain you."

The two thugs both got a little more wide-eyed as they saw flames flicker in the vampire's eyes and caught sight of his teeth.

"What da fuck is up wit your eyes?" the darker one asked with a slight waiver to his voice. "Those some sort of raver contacts?"

"Looks like one of those Goth punks with the fake fangs," the lighter one agreed, though he sounded even less confident than his companion.

Alucard sighed and shook his head again. "Americans… So jaded and desensitized to danger," he said in dissatisfaction. The bullet in his shoulder popped out and clattered to the ground. "I suppose I have Hollywood and Goth culture to thank for that."

The thugs both looked at the bullet in surprise and growing fear.

"Here's something even a brain dead punk can understand and perhaps will get more of a reaction. It does have quite the impressive kick to it, though it's really wasted on such human filth."

Alucard reached into his jacket for his Casull strapped to his hip, not bothering with the Jackal as that really would be overkill.

The darker one saw his hand going into his crimson duster jacket and, recognizing that the vampire was about to pull a gun as they had, shot Alucard twice in the stomach to try dropping him.

Alucard gave a wicked chuckle and withdrew the Casull from its spot as the lighter one shot him in the left shoulder and the chest.

"Well now," Alucard said mockingly. He pointed the gun at the lighter one, as he was the first to shoot at him and the first to even attempt to aim for his heart. "That's a little more effort and a glimmer of sense. Try harder, maggot, and perhaps I'll make yours a quicker death."

Both thugs opened fire on the vampire, unloading the clips as fast as they could. Alucard didn't even both trying to dodge the bullets. Panic was making the pathetic humans' aims worse and only a couple bullets entered his torso, one grazed his thigh, another his left arm (that time from the darker one).

Alucard fired four consecutive shots when the thugs ran out of bullets, a bullet for each knee of each thug. The Casull's bullets predictably found their marks and tore through their knees like a hammer through paper.

Both men dropped to the ground, screaming in agony, not reaching for spare clips. The bullets they had shot into the vampire left his body, the wounds quickly healing.

Alucard sighed and put the gun away. This truly wasn't worth the bullets.

Resigned to the fact his night seemed fated to be without any sort of challenge, Alucard descended on the two thugs and unceremoniously drained them both. The vampire summoned a hell hound and had the beast dispose of the corpses.

'Time to resume my rounds and check in on the bar,' Alucard thought irritably.

The progenitor of vampires suddenly smirked to himself, thinking of a certain quick-witted and easily flustered heiress and getting an idea on how to liven up his evening. Alucard had a feeling he wasn't the only one who could use a distraction right about now… and he did find it amusing to see a blush rise to those pale cheeks and finding out what snappy retort she'd answer his taunts with. At least that was one human in this cesspool country with a brain accredited to them.

.

.

.

Mercedes's night was passing by without anything out of the ordinary happening. Which, unlike Alucard, the young woman was feeling mostly relieved by that, even if her mind was straying back to Iscariot issues.

Liam had called a few hours after Mercedes had gotten to work, once more wanting to check in on her. Mercedes thanked him for the concern and reassured him that all was going well and quietly tonight, though this time the reassurances had to be carefully given and were not so easy for her to say as she knew they weren't wholly true. Stressed over trying not to alert Liam of anything being wrong, she forgot to mention to him that Jackie had agreed the night before to give her the night off, and Val had cleared the sitter obstacle today. Mercedes remembered shortly after their call ended, but decided she'd call Liam back another time when she wasn't on a work break and had longer to talk. The party was still over a month away, so there wasn't a particular rush to respond.

Mercedes would be glad when this mess with Iscariot was resolved. though. She really didn't like having to tell evasive half-truths to those close to her and it was already becoming frazzling to her nerves.

Alucard had returned twice from checking in at the apartment. The vampire briefly sent her the telepathic message that all was quiet there. Alucard would then make an inspection of the neighborhood around the bar before departing to monitor the more defenseless Xander and watch for Iscariot possibly setting up for the attack.

So when Mercedes sensed Alucard approaching from his third round, near eleven-thirty in the evening, she expected to sense him poking at her mind again to deliver the 'All's Clear' message.

Instead, Alucard walked into the bar casually and approached the counter where Mercedes was. He was also missing the black fedora and crimson jacket. His hair was still a shaggy short style with long messy bangs that fell over his eyes and his glasses were in place, except the lenses were now crimson rather than orange. His suit was uniformly black, his dress shirt deep blood red, and the outfit was an even more flattering cut than before, drawing attention to his svelte frame.

CJ gave a smirk as he saw Alucard walk in, obviously and unabashedly mentally undressing the vampire.

Mercedes immediately, and subtly, cast an enchantment barrier similar to her son's to block each of her coworkers' minds from the vampire. The guys didn't notice as they were not able to see movement of energy and weren't looking in her direction to catch the quick deft gestures made.

But the vampire could see the faint pulse of indigo light laced with symbols, and therefore did notice. Alucard raised an eyebrow as he took a seat in front of Mercedes with languid grace. "Good evening, Mercedes."

Alucard's native Romanian accent was noticeable and his tone was akin to a deep purr. If she didn't know the sarcastic vampire better, Mercedes would almost deign to classify his tone of voice as being seductive.

"Good evening, Alucard," Mercedes said with a great deal of confusion, wondering why the abrupt change in routine. "Can I help you?"

"Glass of merlot, if you wouldn't mind." Alucard flashed a smile, (a rather charming smile, not his trademark malicious smirk, Mercedes noticed with growing bafflement,) his accent and tone of voice not changing. "Dinner has left a rather unpleasant aftertaste and I'd like something to wash it away with."

Alucard's smirk was back, though, when he saw Mercedes pause in turning to retrieve the wine. She glanced at her coworkers and then back at the vampire.

"And just where was it that you had dinner tonight?" Mercedes asked in an undertone, immediately concerned that something had gone wrong at her place.

Alucard tilted his head, a more sober expression on his face as he peered at Mercedes from above the rim of his glasses for a moment.

"Not far from here. It was a rather bland meal, with a chemical aftertaste, nothing to give a review of," Alucard replied, realizing why she had tensed so suddenly. He saw her immediately relax and his smirk returned once more.

"Well, in that case, I can certainly understand why you'd want a glass of wine," Mercedes replied, trying to keep the conversation seeming normal to outside ears. "The local cuisine is not generally noted for being sensational."

Alucard nodded his head once and Mercedes resumed her original intent of filling his order.

'So,' Alucard thought with no shortage of entertainment. 'The idea of me draining other humans, even if they're not attacking her and are therefore possibly innocent, does not seem to bother her. It was simply concern for the situation with her son. Intriguing ambiguous morals she's developed from exposure to other vampires.'

Mercedes grabbed a new bottle of wine from the cabinets and ignored the teasing looks from CJ and Tony as she poured the vampire a glass.

The female bartender was very glad for a change that their boss, Jackie, who was also the owner of the bar, barely spent any time at the bar. Jackie's now deceased husband had opened the bar and she kept it running because it made her good money, but she had very little interest in the daily going-ons. Mercedes could just imagine what would happen if this turned into one of those times Jackie came flitting in through the door to check on the bar, only to be just in time to see the stir Alucard was causing, negative and positive, with all the bartenders. Knowing the flighty personality Jackie had, she'd likely be acting as ridiculous as CJ was over the vampire.

After paying for the wine Alucard remained at the bar to drink. The vampire glanced at CJ and Tony and noted their continued looks in his direction.

"Your coworkers seem curious in regards to my presence," Alucard commented after Mercedes served a couple customers.

"Might be the outfit you're wearing tonight or that you're drinking wine in a bar like this," Mercedes said nonchalantly as she tried not to blush in embarrassment. The guys were not making comments, thankfully, but they were most certainly being obvious in their glances.

"Oh?" Alucard leaned closer so as not to be overheard and took on an expression of being confused. He asked as charmingly as he could to fluster the young woman, "And why does that necessitate you blocking their thoughts, _draga mea_?"

The vampire's knowing smirk returned as he saw Mercedes glance at him in surprise before averting her gaze.

Mercedes cast a quick look at her coworkers, ascertaining they were indeed far enough away in the noisy bar to not overhear the conversation, before responding fiercely but just as quietly. "Perhaps because I don't wish for them to incense your insufferable pride and find out tomorrow that the bar is suddenly and inexplicably short-staffed, and subsequently end up with new coworkers I don't get along with as well."

"'Might be' and 'perhaps', but I think not," Alucard stated confidently, smirk growing wider. "Why do I get the feeling the seer is attempting to evade answering my inquiry by giving suppositions rather than facts?"

The seer glared at the vampire, aggravated he had caught that and called her out on how she answered. "It's nothing I feel you need know," Mercedes said bluntly, meeting his fiery gaze. "And that, Alucard, is the whole truth."

Alucard leaned back and raised his glass to her with a flirtatious smile. "As you say, Mercedes." He took a lingering sip of the wine.

Mercedes noticed that CJ was watching the vampire with obvious interest again as Alucard sipped his wine. She glared disapprovingly at her friend, causing CJ to chuckle and go back to serving customers. Tony was likewise snickering and glancing at Mercedes in amusement from behind his spiky-gelled red bangs.

' _Baiser ma vie_ ,' Mercedes thought with an internal groan of frustration. 'Now the guys have all the more imagined reasons to tease me about this.'

Mercedes could suddenly sense Alucard prodding at her mind. She raised an eyebrow at him, not sure if she wanted to hear whatever the vampire might want to say privately with the way he was inexplicably behaving. Alucard simply gave her an expectant look and she could sense him once again trying to get her to open her thoughts so he could speak. Mercedes sighed and let down her mental barriers enough to allow him to do so.

"I will be remaining at your apartment for the rest of your shift as, if tonight is Iscariot's planned night of attack, the logistical decision would be to get their operatives in place before you return home," Alucard said in a serious tone, Romanian accent absent.

Out loud the vampire added, once more all seductive tones, "Enjoy your shift, _draga mea_. I will return for you at closing."

"Thanks. See you in a few hours," Mercedes replied with an effort to restrain her growing irritation. Alucard's switch in tones when speaking mentally made the seer intuitively realize that the suave tones out loud and more casual demeanor were a deliberate attempt to give her coworkers the wrong impression as to the nature of their interactions, likely for his own personal entertainment. Mercedes was trying once more to ignore the attention CJ and Tony were giving their way upon hearing Alucard's parting comment.

Alucard smirked as he saw understanding flash in Mercedes's eyes.

It was a particularly smug smirk, even for the progenitor of vampires, in Mercedes's opinion.

The vampire nodded to her with a wink behind his glasses, causing Mercedes to glare all the more indignantly at him. Alucard turned and strode out of the bar with attention-grabbing dignified grace and several sets of female patrons' eyes (and CJ's) followed him appreciatively.

Mercedes turned to her coworkers after the door closed behind Alucard. She saw CJ open his mouth to comment and Tony looked ready to join.

"Say so much as one word about him being in here again," Mercedes warned them, especially cutting CJ off before he could start his teasing, "and Halloween could very well be coming early as I will use both your boiled skulls as decorative garnish containers for the bar."

CJ and Tony snickered at the threat. They had heard even more creative threats from her before when annoyed. However, they kept their comments to themselves for the time being.

Mercedes glared at them both in frustration as she knew it was only a matter of time before the teasing started again.

"That is a threat," Alucard's entertained voice whispered in Mercedes's mind, "almost worthy of a vampire. Though you should add a bit more malevolence if you want them to take you seriously."

"Get out of my mind!" Mercedes mentally exclaimed in surprise and anger.

"Put your defenses back up if you wish for me not to enter your mind," Alucard replied unrepentantly. "Otherwise, it's an invitation to take a look or listen in."

Mercedes could hear his manic chuckles as she slammed her mental barriers in place, thankfully blocking the vampire out mid laugh. Giving a low growl under her breath, she stormed off to the back to retrieve some alcohol they needed. She was even gladder Alucard couldn't read her friends' minds with the enchantment she cast, otherwise the vampire would have really had a field day at her expense.

As Mercedes grabbed bottles of whiskey and gin, her thoughts were exclusively centered on Alucard.

Quite furiously centered on him, in point of fact.

'Egotistical, psychotic, manipulative, interfering bastard! Somehow, I will get him back for this! Help dealing with Iscariot or not, there's no call for making my work life more complicated like this!'

Such thoughts between busy spells at work carried Mercedes through the next few hours, trying to decide how she'd get payback on Alucard.

The young woman wasn't having any luck figuring that one out, but it was still something besides Iscariot to think about.


	10. Chapter 10 Other First Introductions

Chapter Ten

Other First Introductions

Mercedes's shift at work came to an end without an attack from Iscariot taking place in either location. Alucard returned as the bartenders were cleaning up the closed bar for the night.

CJ, with a teasing grin in Mercedes's direction, went to the door and let Alucard into the bar.

"Hey there!" CJ said, glancing up and down the vampire. "Mercedes hasn't bothered to have the good manners to introduce us yet, so I'm her friend and fellow bartender, CJ. The other bartender is Tony." CJ offered a hand to Alucard.

Alucard smirked slightly as he saw Mercedes watching the exchange with a great deal of trepidation. He nodded to the friendly, flirtatious young man and politely took his hand.

"A pleasure to be introduced properly. You may call me Alucard," the vampire said, once more the epitome of a charming would-be suitor.

Mercedes gritted her teeth and continued putting chairs up on the tables.

"Alucard, huh? Hope you won't take offense, but that's kind of an odd name," CJ said as the vampire released his hand. "What nationality is it from?"

"It's derived from a Romanian name," Alucard said with a chuckle. "That name is a family one derived from Latin."

Mercedes sent a glare in the vampire's direction, which only made his smirk increase.

"Ah, old fashioned family name. So is mine, but I hate it, hence the abbreviations," CJ said with a smile, not seeing Mercedes's glare. He turned to help finish putting up the chairs. "So, Mercedes says you're only in town for a little while. How did you meet Mercedes when you're not from around here? You from her home state? Friends with her family?"

Alucard chuckled again as Mercedes gave him another glare to warn him to be careful what he said in front of people she had to work with.

"No, I'm from overseas," Alucard said smoothly, not missing a beat in his answer. "We have a mutual interest in rare hounds and academics that led to us speaking."

Mercedes sighed in frustration and wondered what ancient deities she had pissed off to deserve this sort of aggravation in her life. She supposed the vampire's answer could have been much, much worse though. At least they were based in the truth, so she could corroborate them if later asked.

"Oh, really?" Tony piped in with interest from where he was capping liquor bottles. "What sort of dogs? My fiancé and I have a breeding pair of Irish Wolfhounds that are the bane and blessing of my existence."

Mercedes could sense Alucard's amusement rising in parallel with her irritation.

"Hunting dogs as well. A temperamental breed of blood hounds specifically. They've certainly been called hellish to manage by some, but I find them well worth the effort to train." Alucard flashed his charming smile Mercedes's way. "I think Mercedes would agree from her own experiences with the breed. Wouldn't you, _draga mea_?"

Mercedes had a very difficult time resisting the tempting urge to throw a bar stool at the haughty vampire who was taunting her. Apparently he didn't mind letting his answers get worse.

"You hunt, Mercedes?" Tony asked in surprise.

"I did grow up near mountains and forests with nothing but male cousins for family my age," Mercedes reminded him.

"Oh yeah," Tony replied with a laugh. "Forgot you weren't always a city girl busting her pretty little ass to make a living."

"This is indeed a relatively more recent lifestyle," Mercedes replied, grabbing the broom to give the floor a quick sweep. She added with a pointed look at Alucard, "Though hunting is a hobby that perhaps I should look into again. I find myself missing it recently."

Alucard's grin only widened at the thinly-veiled threat. "I'm glad our interactions are bringing out any hidden longings you may have, _draga mea_ ," he replied silkily, deep Romanian accent purring with his amusement. "I'm sure I could be persuaded to accommodate most any idea you have for ways to pass time spent with one another."

CJ and Tony took that in exactly the way Alucard meant for them to and both were chuckling and glancing at the blushing heiress.

Mercedes was wishfully contemplating whether she could put one or two of the daggers currently hiding in her boots into the vampire before ending up dead herself.

"So what are you doing here in Philly, Alucard? Business or pleasure?" CJ asked curiously, crossing the room to help Tony finish with the bottles.

"Business which occasionally provides its own pleasures…" Alucard replied, eyes on Mercedes to watch her reactions as her blush grew brighter and her glares became more fierce. "Or at least time allowed for the pursuit of the latter."

"What field of work are you in?"

"CJ," Mercedes interrupted, not wanting to hear the misdirecting play on words Alucard would come up with. "Can you give the man a minute without interrogating him for his entire life story?"

The empathic human could immediately sense Alucard's entertainment soaring higher at her ironic choice of words for the infamous Vampire King. She ducked her head in aggravation, clenching her jaw again.

"Sorry, Mercedes," CJ said, not sounding the least apologetic. "You know me, I like to know details about people and you weren't opening those pretty lips."

"I'll keep this incident in mind if there's ever a next time," Mercedes said through gritted teeth.

Alucard laughed quietly, not bothering to conceal his amusement anymore.

Mercedes batted Alucard with the bristle end of the broom as she passed by him, causing the vampire to glance down in surprise at the dust left on his black pant leg.

"Now that's just not polite, little mouse," Alucard warned quietly, reaching down slowly and brushing the dust away. He could have made it simply disappear as his clothing was an extension of his will, but using his powers in front of the humans for even a small thing might be noticed.

"The way you're behaving is even less polite," Mercedes replied in aggravation, keeping her voice low.

"I am behaving as a perfect picture of politeness." Alucard's smirk was positively devious as he followed in her path of sweeping to keep their conversation from her coworker's hearing. "Especially given the conversational topics."

"You know what I mean!" Mercedes gave another exasperated glare, having to resist the childish urge to stomp her foot to punctuate the statement. "You could have simply waited outside without drawing attention to yourself and giving them the wrong impression about our association."

"Wouldn't your coworkers find it more curious for a man to walk a lady home repeatedly without properly introducing himself at least once?" was the vampire's logical response.

"You could have waited outside as a shadow and they'd have never known you were here tonight. You're supposed to be keeping a low profile!"

"There were no enemies watching the establishment when I've entered, nor any signs of surveillance set up, and I was in need of a glass of wine earlier, remember?"

"There are plenty of other establishments that could have aided you with that!" Mercedes said in a heated whisper, having to make a conscious effort to keep her voice quiet.

"But then I'd be derelict in keeping watch. Coming to your bar allowed me to fulfill both."

"Somehow, I doubt you're doing this for my benefit," the seer replied dryly.

"I never said that was the sole reason, now did I, _draga mea_?" Alucard asked, canine revealing smirk returning.

Mercedes bit back a retort, realizing Alucard would find a response for any argument she made. She turned on her heel to return the broom where it belonged. Mercedes was wishing she could wipe that smirk off the vampire's face; she was getting tired of seeing it.

CJ and Tony couldn't hear them from the other side of the bar, but they did give curious looks about the whispered conversation.

Mercedes gave them a strained smile. "Mind if I take off?"

"Nope!" CJ said automatically with a grin. "Have fun!"

Mercedes held back a sardonic laugh and nodded.

"Have a good night you two," Mercedes said after she retrieved her belongings.

"It was a pleasure to meet you both," Alucard said to the bartenders as he once again held the door open for Mercedes.

"Nice to meet you!" CJ and Tony called after them.

CJ added, "Oh, and, Mercedes?"

"Yes, CJ?" Mercedes asked, looking over her shoulder to the blonde with one foot already out the door.

"Don't forget about the second greatest invention tonight!"

Mercedes felt the embarrassed blush rise to her face in a flood of heat. She quickly left without another comment, CJ's teasing laughter following behind her. Coming back to work Friday was going to be a nightmare of unending humiliation if this mess with Iscariot didn't happen between now and then to allow her the possibility of properly explaining. She'd almost prefer being attacked by religious fanatics than dealing with CJ's incessant teasing and Tony's relentless questions.

When the door closed behind them, Mercedes glared at the vampire with far more ferocity than she had in the bar.

" _Vous êtes un bâtard impossible_ , Alucard!" she vehemently stated, allowing her annoyance to vent in her first language that she knew he disliked hearing.

Alucard chuckled and gave a nod as they walked towards her bus stop. "I'm surprised it took you so long to realize, _draga mea_ ," he agreed with laughter still lacing his voice. "You should know, however, you do make the most interesting expressions when provoked. It invites attempts to bring them out."

"You do realize, once this whole escapade with Iscariot is done, CJ and Tony are going to be hounding me with questions about why you suddenly disappeared after making your presence so blatantly known," Mercedes pointed out, then giving a sigh and lighting a cigarette.

Alucard shrugged. "For the time being, I am keeping things from looking suspicious. The aftermath is not my concern. When this is over, you could tell them the simple truth that I had to return home, as I did state I was from overseas. Easily enough solved, Seer."

Mercedes was not the least appeased and continued to smoke her cigarette in aggravated silence.

Alucard glanced down at her and asked curiously, "What is the second greatest invention that CJ wished for you to remember and why is it important for tonight?"

Mercedes's choked on the cigarette smoke she had just inhaled and her blush was back with a fury.

Alucard grinned and chuckled in amusement at the young woman's reaction. Given how CJ had behaved, and now Mercedes's reaction, it was clearly something of a sexual nature, even if he didn't know what precisely, and he was curious just what ranked so high in their minds.

Once she stopped coughing, Mercedes followed Alucard's advice from earlier in the night and put every ounce of irritation and anger she had into her answer. "Pursue that course of questioning, Alucard, and you run a very high risk of me immobilizing you and leaving you to CJ's enjoyment, renewing the enchantment every time it wears off, until CJ has had his fill of you."

"Now that, Mercedes, was an excellent threat given the circumstances of who you are talking to," Alucard said with a dangerously cutting voice.

The rational part of the vampire's mind reminded him as he spoke, before he could do something violent because of the anger that unexpected threat sent flaring through him, that he had taunted her about her threats earlier in the evening. He also knew that while she knew a good deal about his origins, history books didn't recount the full details, so she likely wasn't attempting to be quite that malicious and provoking.

His voice became more mocking as he immediately added, "If it wasn't for the fact that I know you need my aid, and that your powers are greatly limited, I might be concerned by that as you sounded as though you meant it. There may be hope for your intimidation tactics yet."

Mercedes looked at the vampire in confusion. She wanted him to get the point that she was tired of his games tonight, but she had the feeling from the ferocious flash of anger she sensed that she had somehow pushed a button she hadn't meant to push that went beyond the teasing Alucard had done in the bar that caused her own aggravation. But then he did the mood swing thing that made her empathic senses have a hard time reading him and he was back to critiquing and insulting her.

"Alucard?" Mercedes asked with a frown.

"Yes?" Alucard replied stoically.

Mercedes sighed with frustration and looked at her half-smoked cigarette as smoke lazily floated up into the air. She was really not sure what to make of the vampire or how to proceed.

"I'm not certain why you seemed to be so incensed by my threat, but I apologize for whatever was of a nature that bothered you so much," Mercedes finally said quietly. "I didn't actually mean it. It just came to mind as a good threat considering that immobilizing you is one of the few things I can do in retaliation and CJ has been driving me crazy all night."

Alucard glanced down at the seer with a piercing stare, silent for several seconds as she looked back up and met his gaze.

"Apology accepted," Alucard said as he looked away.

Mercedes sighed again in confusion, mental weariness and physical tiredness. She was done arguing or attempting to keep up with Alucard's banter or mood swings for tonight. It just wasn't worth the effort.

Alucard stood silently next to her, mentally scanning the area for signs of Iscariot, until the bus was down the street. With a nod to Mercedes, the vampire took a step back and seemingly melted into the shadows.

"I will see you at your apartment," Alucard's voice echoed from the air.

"See you then, Alucard."

Halfway to her apartment, however, Mercedes could feel the vampire poking at her mind to speak. She lowered her mental barrier to do so.

"Yes, impatient sir?" Mercedes asked, attempting at humor and hoping she wouldn't piss him off again. "Is there some sign of Iscariot?"

"No. I have a question for you," Alucard's mental voice was aloof still.

"Yes?"

"Why were you not bothered by the idea of me feeding on other humans this evening?" Alucard's voice was now slightly curious.

Mercedes, now making a more conscious effort with her empathy to avoid another misunderstanding, could sense that the vampire was indeed curious. His mood swings were going to end up giving her mental whiplash. As it was, she was on the verge of another headache.

"Everything that exists on this earth needs something to survive," Mercedes replied matter-of-factly. "Plants, animals, humans, and yes, even vampires. I'm not going to begrudge you the same need that we all have."

"Even though you feel vampirism is outside the natural order of life and that something vampires need is humans, such as yourself?"

"The main reason I feel that way is because it circumvents the process of death in its due time. It doesn't mean I dislike vampires themselves because of that aspect of it. And you might eat humans, but you haven't eaten me." Mercedes said the last with a slight smirk, though she wasn't sure if Alucard could see it from wherever he was shadowing her from.

"No, but I might have on numerous occasions."

"Might have, but haven't yet. You've been willing to behave civilly enough since the initial time we spoke." Mercedes sighed to herself as that statement made her think of another such first encounter.

"Your thoughts just flashed to another, but I didn't catch a clear image. Who was that vampire?" Alucard asked. Or more precisely, it was a demand.

Mercedes decided to humor Alucard and brought to the front of her mind a clearer image of the one who entered her thoughts.

The vampire appeared to be a very pretty young girl of European heritage, no older than 8 or 9. The vampire was dressed in a midnight blue short-sleeved, ankle-length, frilly-edged velvet dress with a golden silk sash tied around her waist. Her long black hair had matching tiny golden ribbons interwoven within the curls, her bangs the same length as the rest of her hair and parted to either side, making her fiery red eyes clearly visible.

"Her name was Fumiko," Mercedes explained.

Alucard heard- as a quiet after thought filled with sadness, a thought that hadn't been meant for him to hear- the translation to the name as 'the treasured beautiful child.'

A wistful smile crossed Mercedes's lips. "Fumiko was the very first vampire I ever met."

"How did you two meet?"

"I was visiting _mes grandparents_ during my winter break while I was going to college for business," Mercedes replied. She decided she'd humor Alucard again as the answer gave her something to think about besides the possibility of fighting for her life in the present day. "My first night there, I had a vision of a human man being attacked in the park shortly after dusk and drained by a vampire. By Fumiko, in fact…"

"So you went to the park to stop the attack?" Alucard guessed.

"That was my intent, yes." Mercedes's smile became self-deprecating. "My views were more simplistic back then, still a black and white mentality, even if those views were diverging from my family's. I was still a teenager and foolish enough to think that with my martial arts and weapons training, and my budding talents with enchantments, I could handle a vampire child on my own if it meant saving someone, despite the fact that I had seen her killing a full grown man. Her appearance aided that assumption a bit, looking back in retrospect. Especially as the only things I knew about vampires at the time were things I had seen on TV or read in fictional books. The vision had been long enough for me to see a discarded newspaper on a picnic table nearby, one abandoned recently enough to not be all that wet from the snow, and so I knew the date the attack would take place…

"I got to the park shortly before dusk and found a place to sit and keep watch. There were a couple families there with children playing. I kept myself appearing occupied with making sketches of the snow covered landscape. Fumiko wasn't there yet. But the man in the vision was, reading the newspaper I had seen. Most of the families left as the sun began to go down, but there was a group of children who were there without their parents who stayed despite it getting even colder outside with dusk coming. Mostly kids that looked about the age of the vampire I saw in my vision, a couple slightly older. And that was when I picked up something with my empathy…"

Alucard could sense a great deal of anger and loathing in Mercedes's mind all of a sudden, her empathy flaring the emotions out all the stronger.

"The man who was in the park, the man I saw being attacked by the vampire, was watching the children. And he was steadily becoming aroused…"

"He was a pedophile," Alucard said stoically.

"Indeed." Mercedes was doing her best to tamp down her emotions, not enjoying feeling such negativity or considering that sort of subject.

"What did you do?"

"I could sense the vampiric presence approaching the park and I left her to her meal," Mercedes replied without the slightest remorse. "In that scenario, that man was the real monster. I decided, vision or no, or whomever she may kill in the future, the world was far better off with him dead."

"What happened then?" Alucard prompted when Mercedes didn't immediately continue.

"Fumiko had become aware of me before I became aware of her. I wasn't nearly as adept at shielding my mind back then as I am now. She could sense some of why I was there and why I left. It made her curious." A small fond smile began to return as Mercedes said the last sentence. "I went home a few days later, not giving the matter much thought as I had thought I made a clean getaway from the park and the rest of my visit with family had been quiet. But about a week later I was on my way home from one of my evening classes when I became aware of a presence following me. It was that same vampire child from before. I was naturally quite certain she was going to kill me to keep her secret, but she told me she just wanted to speak with me. Being on my way home from college, I had no weapons on hand. Nor did I have nearly as many back then as I do now to begin with. So I decided it was in my best interest to accept the vampire's request and followed her to a little park not far from the house _ma mere_ had."

"Ironic setting," Alucard noted with amusement.

"Oh, indeed," Mercedes agreed, having to hold back a laugh. "Fumiko had a great love of irony and a wicked sense of humor… She explained that she was merely curious as to how I had come to be in that park waiting for her and wanted to know the full reasons why I had left. I told her much as I just told you. Fumiko found my reasoning intriguing, as did she find my gifts. She also told me in the course of conversation that while she wasn't above draining an 'innocent' human, she tended to target pedophiles and other such predators as she found them to be the easiest to lure in and most worthy of being killed outright. I found that to be fair enough reasoning on her part, which amused her to no end. Fumiko politely asked if I would wish to continue speaking with her on occasion, as she found me rather entertaining once I had relaxed enough from my initial shock of her hunting me down. Realizing she wasn't going to try to make me her next meal, I agreed as I was a bit curious about her as well.

"I moved out on my own not long after for reasons I'd prefer not to get into tonight, but as a side benefit it allowed Fumiko to visit me more frequently. We talked mostly about books, history, philosophy, and my powers. She was concerned I may eventually draw other vampires' attentions with the last. Vampires who might not simply decide to speak with me. She taught me how to better to shield my mind and more about the reality of vampires and their existences versus what is told in stories. She was also intrigued by my tarot readings and would often ask me to read for her on all sorts of minor matters to pass a little time."

Mercedes smiled again to herself. "Fumiko began spending so much time at my apartment that her guardian couldn't help but wonder where she kept going off to and he tracked her down. You can imagine my surprise when there was suddenly another vampire standing in my living room, looking quite displeased with us."

Mercedes allowed the memory to come to the front of her mind. Fumiko had been sitting on a chair in a living room, posing for a sketch Mercedes had requested to be allowed to make. The little vampire was dressed in an elegant crimson silk dress with little black satin bows and a great deal of black lace. Ebony hair was done up stylishly with delicate jeweled combs and she was wearing a slender gold chain with a small heart shaped ruby.

The other vampire had entered through Mercedes's open window as a cloud of fog and then materialized, startling both females. He appeared in his early thirties, of Japanese descent, with long straight black hair brushed back from his androgynous face, and hellfire eyes burning with a great deal of anger. He was dressed in a tailored suit of black, with a dark blue dress shirt that was styled with a Victorian aristocratic flare that (like Fumiko's dress) included an excess of lace.

Fumiko was up in a flash and between the new arrival and Mercedes, defensive of her human friend. Mercedes was watching the new arrival with a great deal of concern, lap-easel with the portrait and art pencils dropped to the ground in her surprise.

"Tukiko san certainly knew how to make an entrance," Mercedes said in good humor, letting the image fade in her mind. "As it turned out, he was more upset with Fumiko for disappearing so often without telling him where she was off to, for going so far from home and risking getting caught in the sun on her way back, than he was that she was in the company of a human and allowing me to know what she was. Fumiko's master had died before Fumiko could drink their blood again and become true undead and so she could never be as powerful as some vampires or change her appearance beyond what she had been at when she was turned. Tukiko san had found Fumiko many decades earlier to me meeting her. Tukiko san had lost his extended family when he became a vampire, along with any chance he had of ever having children of his own, and he had a soft spot for Fumiko immediately. I don't know what Fumiko's name was before she met Tukiko san, but he had given her that name when he decided to take her under his wing and watch over her. They lived as father and daughter, fairly peacefully for vampires, and moved every few years so that no one would notice that Fumiko never aged and always stayed in during the day, even if she was supposedly being home-schooled and had fragile health."

"What happened next?" Alucard asked, intrigued by the story.

"Tukiko san was concerned that I could be a threat to them, at first. But Fumiko convinced him that I was not interested in harming her. At least, not anymore, as we had become friends." Mercedes had to hold back another laugh. "Once Tukiko san's worries were allayed, he was likewise curious about me and we spent most of the evening talking while I worked on Fumiko's portrait. Tukiko san did not visit as often as Fumiko, but he didn't stop her from visiting and he was pleasant enough during our visits. Sometimes I would visit with them at their home now that Fumiko didn't have to worry about Tukiko san knowing she had made a human friend. He had an interest in bladed weaponry like myself, though his was from being from an era before guns were so widespread. Occasionally we'd have friendly spars when I would visit them. He would almost always win, but he was sporting about it and gave me further lessons on my swordsmanship."

Mercedes allowed a new memory to come to mind. It was some months later and Tukiko and Fumiko were both at Mercedes's former apartment. The moonstone and celestite pendant on her necklace was around the pagan priestess's neck now, dangling from a plain silver chain as the beaded chain of present day was not yet a part of the design. Tukiko was presenting Mercedes with a wrapped package from himself for her 18th birthday. The antique katana set that Mercedes usually kept on display was the gift. Fumiko's gift was the silk calligraphy that hung next to the set in Mercedes's current apartment. Fumiko had created it herself.

"When my ex-husband and I became engaged, I moved away and my visits with Fumiko and Tukiko san stopped for a while. Fumiko would call me on occasion to talk if she was bored and feeling in need of our old conversations, but those calls were fairly sporadic," Mercedes continued. "When I became pregnant with Xander, my ex-husband was in the process of out-processing for the military and we moved back home. I saw Fumiko and Tukiko san a few times then. But my marriage was having problems already and I didn't wish to involve them, so we didn't visit as often. When my ex-husband and I separated a few months before Xander was born, I ended up spending a great deal of time with Fumiko and Tukiko san at either of our homes."

The bus had reached Mercedes's stop and she exited into the evening.

Once the bus pulled away Alucard materialized next to Mercedes. He was back to his usual attire from previous nights, with his hat on but his glasses off. He looked down at Mercedes with a neutral expression as she lit a cigarette.

Mercedes glanced up at Alucard after she took her first drag and asked out loud, "Should you be making yourself visible at the moment?"

"I can't sense Iscariot anywhere nearby."

"Does that mean you think they're not attacking tonight?"

"No," Alucard said frankly. "They could still attack tonight. It only means they haven't moved their people into place in advance. They could have the plan of showing up just before dawn and storming in without much immediate surveillance before doing so, relying on past surveillance to execute their plans. Which is a distinct possibility if they somehow know about your empathy, or even any aspects of you being a seer, and considered that you may pick up on the attack if they linger too long before."

"I see." Mercedes sighed and went back to smoking her cigarette.

"You speak of your two vampire friends in past tense," Alucard noted after a short silence. "What happened to your friendship with them?"

"Nothing to my friendship with them," Mercedes said, unable to keep the sadness from her voice.

Alucard couldn't help but sense the depths of that sadness Mercedes felt, her mind not being shielded completely and her empathy increasing emotional projection again. The sire of vampires was more than a little surprised the human felt so deeply grieved over two vampires.

"Something happened to them?" Alucard asked to discover what had happened when Mercedes didn't continue.

Mercedes nodded once and then after another short silence, and a couple drags off her cigarette, she explained further.

"There was a priest accused of pedophilia at a local church. There was a great deal of evidence against him, but his lawyers got him off on a technicality. Fumiko truly hated such people and couldn't resist the temptation to kill him. I had a strong feeling doing so would end badly somehow, though I didn't get a vision of how. Fumiko usually listened if my gifts indicated something, but her hatred of pedophiles ran so deeply that she ignored my warning this time. We argued over it and she left my apartment. I didn't speak with her or Tukiko san for a few days.

"During that time, there was a news report of the priest ending up dead- murder, no details to be released to the public. I wasn't upset over the priest's death, but I was afraid for Fumiko as the sense of something wrong increased even more. I tried calling their house, but Fumiko wouldn't answer. Tukiko san did, though, and told me that all was fine and to just give her a few weeks to calm down and she'd come around. He suggested perhaps my ill feeling was simply over the strife this priest's death caused between the two of us. Even with as close as Fumiko and I were, we occasionally had arguments, but this one had been the first to cause her not to speak to me. But Fumiko killing the priest ended up drawing the attention of Iscariot."

Mercedes's anger returned as she said the last and continued speaking. "It was the first time I became aware of the organization, though I didn't learn who was responsible until much later. I wasn't there when it happened, but I had a vision of it that night while sleeping. There was no answer when I awoke and called their house, but there was a live report on the news that there was a fight that had taken place between armed men and a father and daughter where they lived. Identities of the attackers and motives unknown. Father and daughter presumed dead, though their bodies had not been retrieved from the scene of the crime."

Mercedes sighed and shook her head, anger already receding back to sorrow as that haunting vision was resurrected in her memory and she tried to shove it away. "And that was the end of Fumiko and Tukiko san. Even if the authorities called it an unsolved case, I knew they were dead because I had seen it happen… A month later, I was contacted by a lawyer who was in charge of Tukiko san's holdings. The house they had and a portion of his finances had been left to me. Apparently Tukiko san hadn't been as certain as he had sounded that what I sensed was a simple rift between Fumiko and I and he had changed his will in case my intuition proved true. I had the damages to the house repaired and paid off the taxes and utilities in advance with some of the money established in a trust and then donated the rest to conservation projects for the area."

"You didn't keep the money?" Alucard asked. Her financial records had shown no large nest egg, but he assumed upon hearing she had been left money that she had spent it somehow or had it in another account Walter hadn't managed to dig up yet.

"I don't give a damn about money," Mercedes said with a great deal of irritation. "I can make my own to support my son and I. Someday, hopefully many years still from now, when my grandparents pass away peacefully and of old age I'll inherit all the trappings that come with being the granddaughter and heiress of a Marquis. That will be more than enough to make certain Xander gets a proper higher education and is secure should my own current earnings prove a bit short in that respect. I know Tukiko san meant well by leaving the money for Xander and I in the event something did happen to him and Fumiko because I wasn't next in line to inherit at the time they died, and he knew I had issues with my mother, but that was money gained by them being murdered." Mercedes's tone had become self-recriminating. "The money was better served going towards foundations that worked to protect the lands Tukiko-san and Fumiko had decided to call home."

"So why did you keep the house?"

"Because there are a lot of good memories there and it was already our second home." Mercedes stopped walking and flicked her spent cigarette into the road with a sigh. She looked up at Alucard and continued speaking quietly, with the same fiercely determined tone she took to using when she was speaking about something she held conviction for. "I don't expect you to fully understand, Alucard, and you can laugh at me or mock me for the sentiment if you want, but Fumiko and Tukiko san became more like family than friends for the few years I had them in my life. I eventually came to the conclusion I had my vision of Fumiko not to stop her from killing the pedophile, but so I'd have the chance to meet her and Tukiko san. I loved them very dearly as family and they viewed me as such, and they extended that to Xander as well after he was born.

"While I was going through my divorce, I spent a lot of time with them at the house. Fumiko and Tukiko san both helped me as best as they could to deal with what had happened between my ex-husband and I. Tukiko san would drag me, sometimes literally, out back to train when I was upset and make me spar with him until I was near collapsing from exhaustion to burn off the negative emotions in a positive and productive way. They were the reasons I recovered from everything that had happened and didn't self-destruct in the process. Xander took his first steps and said his first words there, with Fumiko and Tukiko san right there with me cheering him on. We celebrated his first birthday there. That winter, after dusk had fallen on several nights, we'd take him sledding down the hill out back or have snow ball fights with one another, or make snow men or angels. I have hundreds of memories with them there.

"They were vampires who ate humans without apology for doing so and I am human, but that doesn't lessen the love I hold for them. Nor does it mean I don't miss them because they are truly dead now. I failed to convince Fumiko to not attack the priest. I let Tukiko brush aside my concerns because I foolishly thought he could keep them both safe should trouble come looking for them. I failed to properly protect my family. I lost two of the people dearest to me in one fell swoop and I can't bear to lose what little I have left to remind me of them!"

Mercedes looked away and began walking again, trying to hold back tears that threatened to come. She forced the memories of Fumiko and Tukiko aside and raised her mental barriers so Alucard wouldn't threaten her again over the prospect of crying.

Alucard was watching the human with a carefully stoic expression, though inwardly he was thinking about this information she had just given him. He realized with sudden clarity exactly what she had meant a few days previous when she said she actively pursued gaining access to the dark forces of magic to protect those she cared about while she still lived. Why she took the risk of drawing attention by using such power, when she had already had her divinatory gifts to aid her. She had been without those dark powers before this incident with her vampiric friends she viewed as family.

Alucard stopped walking, still looking at Mercedes. Which caused her to stop walking again as well.

Mercedes looked up at Alucard in surprise. "What is it?" she asked, distress disappearing and becoming anxiety. "Alucard? Are you sensing Iscariot or something wrong at the apartment?"

Alucard shook his head slowly to the negative, meeting Mercedes's gaze.

His expression was one Mercedes hadn't before seen on his usually stoic or alternately mocking face, a subtle shift just a shade off from impassive that was difficult to discern the meaning of.

"I am simply beginning to understand your thought process a bit more than before," Alucard said quietly. His eyes flared a brighter crimson and he said with a ferocious edge to his voice, though the volume didn't increase, "If you want to honor your family's memories, then make certain you channel every bit of the anger and sadness you're experiencing in this moment should Iscariot's operatives fight their way near you and your son. Use the training Tukiko helped to give you, use every power you've managed to bring under your control, instead of allowing it to go to waste, to protect your son and survive. That is the best way you can honor those who cared for you and wished for you to live- by surviving and refusing to allow their killers to murder you as well."

Mercedes looked at Alucard in confusion for several seconds before tentatively nodding in acknowledgement of his words. She turned away, perplexed by the progenitor of vampires' willingness to give such advice… and appreciative of the advice for what it was. It sounded rather like something Tukiko san would say to her in such a situation. Hauntingly like something Tukiko would say, as a matter of fact. The sorrow for those lost grew with that realization, and it was tangible enough to the empath that it nearly felt like a sharp dagger was stabbing through her heart.

"You know, Alucard," Mercedes said shakily, walking again and lighting another cigarette as she was feeling in desperate need for more nicotine after speaking of the past, trying to suppress her emotions again. "You are rather insufferable with how often you're right. Even if it is in your own twisted logic. It makes me wonder at my own sanity for agreeing with you."

Alucard chuckled quietly in genuine dark amusement. "Why, Mercedes, I believe that's the nicest thing you've said to me yet."

Mercedes gave the vampire a perfunctory glare but couldn't help but smile after. She managed to say steadily, "I did say thank you for being willing to help with Iscariot. I'd think that would be considered nicer."

Alucard's chuckles became outright laughter.

"That was gratitude, yes. But it's not the same as a compliment," Alucard replied when he finally stopped laughing. "Even if you were trying to make it sound like an insult, you're still admitting that I have been correct where you have been incorrect and you have benefited from my words."

"And look at what one compliment does to his majesty's ego," Mercedes's smile didn't completely disappear, though she tried to sound reproving. "That will certainly teach me a lesson about giving you any credit, Alucard."

The heiress's comment elicited more laughter from the Vampire King.

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Author's Note: To the anonymous guest reviewer for the last chapter, I couldn't respond to you privately as you don't have an account and didn't leave an email to have an open dialogue.

You had the complaint, in caps lock no less, that a few pieces of info seem repetitive. I went back through the chapters to try understanding what you meant because you didn't cite specific examples of your general assessment and, frankly, I'm hard pressed to see your vehement point.

Mercedes is concerned about being drained because she is dealing with Alucard, of all vampires, who is known to be bloodthirsty. And yes, especially when the omniscient view is centered on her thoughts or a general perspective that is not Alucard's, Alucard is mentioned more as the progenitor or the Vampire King. That is because from her standpoint, at this point in time, and the world as a whole at all times, that is the focal point of who and what he is. For those two specifically, they are not long standing friends, or even repeat allies. He isn't just "he", "him", "Alucard" or "that tall crazy vampire" to Mercedes. They are strangers who met barely 72hrs before, under less than ideal circumstances, and are attempting to work together; with him having the advantage of greater power and the disadvantage of a notorious reputation. She is not going to trust him so early in their interactions, so that colors her view in many aspects, and thus reflects in the writing.

Also, how do you imagine Alucard feels, decade after decade, about being viewed so strictly in such terms? To have his history so well known, triumphs and failures, and to be so rigidly defined by that reputation to all he meets and knows it? Writing as I am for these early chapters, it is meant to give readers that taste of his frustration and how hard it is to be viewed through a different lens. The fact that she's willing to speak with him, crack some jokes, and attempt to work with him, though she well knows who he is and it's at the forefront of her thoughts, is part of why Alucard is attempting to help her. Even a hesitant attempt at trust is a rarity for him. Regardless of that tentative arrangement, Alucard is still unable to escape the constructs he's made for himself at this point in time.

So, if it is frustrating you a bit, I did my job as a writer who had a goal in mind of putting you in Alucard's shoes.

Also, though you didn't mention it, I realize I use various titles or descriptions to refer to Mercedes as well, depending on what is going on. Read the above for why that was done, color that with appropriate angle of Mercedes' life, and then consider what conditions would need be met for that to start changing.

With that said, rest assured that as their dynamics change, you'll see a shift in such usage of terms.

As for your second complaint about Mercedes' desire to assert her autonomy and attempt to be as much a part of the solution to this problem as Alucard is, even if she can't do as much as him: Well, I've got no response for that except "Too bad". She's not a helpless damsel in distress, but she has quite obviously admitted she can't handle this situation on her own and has had to concede a great deal of control over the future of not only herself, but her son, to Alucard. She may be willing to do so because it is the wise course for survival, but it's placing her already-stretched-thin emotional state in worse straits and she's going to try to stay on top of the situation as much as she can while this is in crisis-to-be-averted mode. Just like Alucard, Mercedes has strengths, weaknesses and flaws, and all those things will be subject to evolution as necessary and when exposed over time to stimulus that prompts change.

If you want someone whose personality utterly caves in the first few chapters to become someone who faints and cries and says "Whatever you say, Alucard; you obviously know far more than me and I should have no opinions because you're protecting me", please find another fic to read. There are many out there that fit that bill. If you'd like continuity in personality/behavior, realistic progression in dynamics, and characters that aren't two-dimensional cliché tropes, feel free to keep reading.

Lastly, I did warn at the start of the 7th chapter that it was information heavy, but necessary because many key bits of information come into use from Walter's research, and there's hints of things that Walter didn't quite manage to uncover properly. If I didn't include the chapter, many things in later chapters will seem to come out of nowhere and people will be screaming about Deus ex machinas and other such devices when a writer plans poorly and needs a quick fix without instituting a massive retcon. Also, given how many players are in this rather lethal game going on, if you think a smart guy like Alucard wouldn't run a background check, when living in the convenient digital age where such things are but mouse clicks and key strokes away, to try sussing out the source of Iscariot's interest in Mercedes, or if she could prove a bigger liability than he's already assessed… Well, I'd have to question your reasoning. It'd be utterly irresponsible and foolhardy on his part. If it bothered you, there were other chapters following it posted; and it's the only chapter of that nature that I've thus written for this story. Any other information about Mercedes happens organically through conversation.

And again, you don't need to activate the caps lock button to make a point. You'd be surprised what some well-placed words would accomplish.

To everyone else: I apologize for the long response you all just read, but the anonymous person left a rather one-sided, convoluted, review with no way to privately respond.


	11. Chapter 11 Light and Dark

Chapter Eleven

Light and Dark Versus Good and Evil

When they reached Mercedes's apartment, Alucard left to make a quick round of the neighborhood while Mercedes said goodnight to the babysitter. Once Geina had left, Mercedes immediately went to the bedroom. She watched her son sleeping with his stuffed Rìgh for a few moments and then quickly got changed into the outfit she had been wearing the night before while Alucard was still gone.

Mercedes armed herself in the same manner as before, except now she had the sword in its proper place at her side and the wrist daggers strapped to her forearms. She flicked both hands to make sure the finger-release mechanisms were working properly, caught the daggers by the hilts with an ease that took a great deal of training and practice to achieve and maintain, then carefully reloaded them back into their spring release cradles. Contrary to what many movies showed, Mercedes did not attempt to hide the blades beneath a loose fitting over shirt or jacket, as in reality that would almost invariably lead to the daggers not releasing properly because they caught on the fabric.

Mercedes removed the finger triggers so as not to accidentally release the daggers right now and then went out to the kitchen and got a pot of coffee going. Mercedes was in the bathroom tying up her hair once more when Alucard phased into her apartment.

"Any sign of Iscariot?" Mercedes asked without turning around.

"If there was, I'd still be out there and you'd be hearing the fight from even here inside," Alucard replied, tone not quite as mocking as it could have been as he pointed out the obvious.

Mercedes nodded, silently conceding the point, and finished with her hair. She turned to face Alucard and tried to keep her voice level as she said, "Before this starts and I don't get a chance to ask, I do need to ask one other favor of you, Alucard. I apologize for having to ask more, but you clearly said not to speak about what's going to happen with others, so that leaves only you to ask this of."

"And that would be?" Alucard asked impartially.

Mercedes paused before answering, then went over to the built in bookcase against one wall in the living room and withdrew a slender cream-colored heavy-parchment envelope with a sticky note attached to the front. She glanced down at it for a few seconds and then looked back up at Alucard with as resolved of an expression as she could manage.

"I plan to fight with everything I can if I end up face to face with Iscariot and their gods-cursed priest, Anderson. But, if it's not enough and I die, and somehow Xander lives, I need you to bring him to the address on the note and give him and this letter to the person addressed. It's my best friend Valarie. Xander knows her as Auntie Val and she's the executor of my will and temporary guardian of my son should something ever happen to me. I don't want my son left among whatever carnage is here and subjected to police, social service workers, and possibly foster parents until they can sort the mess out and figure out where he belongs. And I certainly don't want those bastards from Iscariot to get their hands on my son.

"Val is human and a few years younger than me, but she lives with her parents, who will be more than happy to help look after Xander as they view us like family. I've been training Val to eventually teach her how to cast enchantments as she shows promising signs for such work and has her own gifts. She will look after my son as best as she can until she can contact the proper people herself, she knows how, and she'll make certain that he goes where he's supposed to. Once he's with family, I know they'd handle whatever red tape comes up with circumventing any complaints the police may have about Xander disappearing and ending up directly in their hands."

Alucard held out his hand for the envelope. Mercedes handed it to him and looked away.

"Thank you," she said quietly. She went to the kitchen to have a cup of coffee to keep her mind alert.

"I understand preparing for the worst case scenario. A parent who cares for their young child and is facing battle would be wise to do so," Alucard said from where he stood behind Mercedes. She turned around and met his piercing gaze as he continued solemnly, "But if you want me to agree to deliver your son and this letter if such an event takes place, I expect you to keep to the first part of that statement- that you're going to fight with all that you can. Vision or not, Seer, this isn't over until reality plays out. I will not be disposed to be accommodating of your request if you don't show the same fighting spirit I saw in the alley, and more, as I know you are capable of it."

Mercedes sighed heavily and then said with equal seriousness, "It's just better to be safe than sorry because I overestimated myself. I'm not going to say I'm not scared. That would be an outright lie. But it's not death itself I'm afraid of. I know there's an afterlife and I don't fear returning to it and facing judgment for my deeds in this life. It's the pain that might come in the process of facing death that I fear, or the fact dying would leave my son without his mother. So, like I said last night, this is one vision I am going to do all I can to see it doesn't come true, all I can to make sure that letter doesn't need to be delivered with my son." Mercedes's eyes flared to gold as she shifted her energy and, to make her point, she summoned up shades of her hell hounds. The currently incorporeal familiars began to prowl around her legs. "And if Iscariot's people do manage to kill me, it sure as hell isn't going to be in my bed. I'll be making sure my dogs get a good meal as I take as many of those _fils des salopes_ as I can down to the underworld with me."

"That's the right spirit," Alucard said with an approving chuckle as he placed the envelope in an inner pocket of his jacket.

Mercedes returned the smile, though it was fleeting. She allowed the shades of her hounds to disappear back to their own plane of existence and finished making her coffee. Mercedes walked back to the living room and took a seat on the couch, sipping her steaming coffee and thinking about what was to come in the very near future.

Alucard took a seat on the chair nearest the front door, the same chair he had sat on the night before, and let his hat fall forward over his closed eyes. With his fingers laced together and hands resting over his stomach, he almost looked like he was sleeping.

Mercedes tried to keep her mind focused on the upcoming fight, but her mind kept returning to her son in the next room. She sighed in frustration and took another sip of her coffee. The young woman glanced over at the Vampire King and then back at her coffee. Mercedes wished she could be so nonchalant about waiting for Iscariot to make their move. She figured this was just another day for Alucard, so why wouldn't he feel relaxed?

With his long duster concealing guns, a brimmed hat falling over his eyes, and lounging as he was, Mercedes likened his general attitude (if not the actual style of clothing) to the ambience of some old-west gunslinger casually waiting for a band of rival outlaws to make their high noon appearance and catching a short nap before the big shoot out as such a happening was a weekly occurrence for the desperado.

Mercedes's expression became more thoughtful as she had an idea and turned it over in her mind. She glanced over at Alucard again, wondering whether or not she should try to ask.

"Is there something on your mind, little mouse?" Alucard's quiet voice broke through her contemplations, causing Mercedes to jump slightly. He smirked in amusement as Mercedes cursed, having spilled a couple drops of hot coffee on her hand.

Mercedes glared at the vampire and then licked the coffee off her hand. She glanced back over at Alucard and saw he was watching her through one partially opened eye.

"Yes, actually, there was something on my mind," Mercedes replied sarcastically.

"And what would that be?" Alucard asked, sounding a bit curious.

"Last night," Mercedes said more neutrally, "you said something to the effect of, if I wanted reassuring, go to sleep, hope for a happy dream, and wait for my death to arrive."

"So I did, Seer," Alucard agreed seriously. "Have you changed your mind so quickly and decided to do so?"

"No!" Mercedes stated with a great deal of irritation. She sighed and said more calmly, "But, with everything else on my mind- this attack from Iscariot coming, thinking about Fumiko and Tukiko-san, worried about Xander- it made me think of something that might help a little."

"How so?" Alucard turned his face towards the human and opened both hell-fire filled eyes completely.

"Well, my biggest concern right now is my son. Specifically, outside of his immediate survival, is what is going to happen when Iscariot makes their move," Mercedes explained. "He's a pretty sound sleeper- he managed once to sleep through a tornado that touched down up the street from where friends we were visiting lived. But gunfire and fighting is bound to wake him up and then I'll have my concentration divided between fighting Iscariot and trying to keep him safe. He's going to be scared, possibly get under foot and trip me up, or accidentally put himself in harm's way… When he was a baby and switched from nursing to semi-solid rice and milk mix to eat, he had a month or so when he was a bit colicky and Fumiko or Tukiko san would hypnotize him to quiet down and sleep…"

"And you're wondering if I could do the same?" Alucard asked when Mercedes trailed off.

"Yeah. I know that might be a bit 'domestic' in using your powers," Mercedes said, remembering his comment about Shadowsnake being summoned to eat her son's nightmares, "but it would keep him out of the way. Less likely for the first favor I asked to need happen. I was considering placing a barrier to keep him from hearing the fight, but it won't stop him from noticing if something goes banging into his bed or his empathy from detecting such strong emotions as are likely to be flying around. Not to mention, my attention is going to be pretty focused elsewhere and I may be using other enchantments against Iscariot to protect us, so the sound enchantment around Xander might fail. Or if I die the enchantment will break. If you've put him into a deeper sleep and something does happen to me, then he won't see it or see what's coming for him next." Mercedes said the last quietly, having a hard time vocalizing the possibility of her son dying. She looked over to Alucard questioningly, wondering if he'd agree with her reasoning and be willing to do so.

"And you'd trust me to take control of your son's mind, even fleetingly?" Alucard asked with a neutral voice, once more pinning her with a piercing look.

"I'm already trusting you to be in this house and help with Iscariot so he hopefully doesn't end up dead. You've been here when I wasn't all night, keeping an eye on the situation and my son. Even without my permission, I'm sure you could have messed with his head before now if you really wanted to, but you haven't yet. And if I catch sign of you doing anything besides putting him into a deeper sleep, I will do whatever I can to end your existence on the spot." Mercedes managed to give a faint smile. "So, as they say, enemy of my enemy, 'In for a penny, in for a pound'."

Alucard raised an eyebrow and smirked at that. Finally he nodded once and stood. "It's a smart precaution. I can do so and then ease him out of the hypnotic state before I leave if the fight doesn't happen tonight so he's back to normal for the day."

"Thank you," Mercedes said with a nod.

The enchantress made a gesture from where she sat, concentrating as she did so, and released the ward on her son's mind that helped keep outside influences from him. There was a small pulse of indigo light signaling the release of the enchantment.

Alucard turned and walked into the bedroom. Mercedes watched from where she sat on the couch, but didn't follow him. She saw the vampire lean over her sleeping son and his hand hovered just above Xander's little ebony-haired head. She couldn't see Alucard's expression, or sense what he was doing specifically, but she could sense the effects and knew he was doing as agreed. Several seconds later his hand dropped down to his side and he was returning to the living room.

"Out like a light," Alucard confirmed as he sat. "The boy will stay asleep no matter how the fight goes."

Mercedes nodded again and sighed, sipping down the rest of her coffee. Something else came to mind, something that begged asking about, and she looked at the vampire contemplatively.

"Alucard?"

"Yes, Mercedes?" Alucard cracked open an eye again to look at her.

"You said you expected me to fight with the same fighting spirit you saw in the alley," Mercedes pointed out. "And in the alley, you basically indicated you had been watching the altercation start to finish."

"Indeed," Alucard said, smirking slightly and fiery eyes flashing beneath half-closed lids.

"How did you become aware of what was happening? Why were you sitting there watching me get attacked and then choose to interfere when you did?" Mercedes was more curious about his reasoning than indignant that he had done so.

"I was in the area to survey Iscariot's movements at one of the Archdiocese's offices, which is only some blocks from where you work," Alucard replied casually. "That smaller office has been abandoned as Iscariot moves to consolidate their resources in one easier to guard spot, so I moved off to have a bite to eat. I heard you running and swearing in your mind. I was curious what you would do when I realized you were going to be attacked and you were making a strategic retreat rather than a mindless fleeing. You fought them, with a great deal of will and ingenuity given the circumstances, and I saw you were willing to keep fighting even though you were injured and clearly beginning to reach your limit. Though I didn't know you were capable of summoning familiars or could use an empathic attack, so I misjudged what your limit actually was and I stepped in and had dinner."

"And what would you have done if I hadn't tried to fight them off?"

"You did more than try, Seer. You did fight them," Alucard stated inarguably, surprising Mercedes with the second almost compliment in just a minute's span of time. "But had you not even made the attempt, or easily given up, I would have drained you along with them without conversation or debate. That you were willing to face a vampire, and defended yourself, even if it was a minor defense, was a mark in your favor. Though I was disappointed you didn't attempt to take advantage of your enchantment and simply ran. It's foolish to leave an enemy alive and uninjured, as they can then seek revenge at their own advantageous moment, and a lesser vampire could have been killed while immobilized by your hell hounds. Only those with a will to fight and kill for their right to exist deserve to live and I was on the fence about whether to allow you to live or not for that sentimentality you displayed. But I can appreciate that you're not a cold-blooded murderer, and you would have failed utterly had you tried to kill me, especially as you were otherwise ill equipped to try killing a vampire. So in the end it was the right choice, even if you were ignorant at the time of who you were encountering."

Mercedes knew that Alucard had been sounding too nice for it to last.

"Lucky me then," she said with a rueful smirk. "As you said, I would have failed had I tried to press the advantage of you being immobilized. I didn't know who you were, but that you could summon familiars told me you were not an average vampire. I was also fairly certain my hell hounds wouldn't attack you because you could likewise summon them. I went with the theory a mouse might be able to make a retreat from the dog who has already eaten the cat, but that doesn't mean she can kill it."

"Indeed," Alucard agreed, tone serious but his own smirk appearing again. "Though I do seem to recall a long standing cartoon popular in most countries where the mouse and cat are always doing their best to torment each other, and the mouse often gets the best of the cat, sometimes with the occasional aid of the dog."

Mercedes tried to hold back giggles, and wasn't having much success, as she looked at the vampire in surprise. Alucard was once more relaxing in the chair with his eyes closed, face now impassive.

"You haven't seen Ironman, but you've seen Tom and Jerry?"

"You're not the only one who gets bored on occasion. It's conceivable I may have chanced upon it being played and found the traps and plans to kill one another amusing enough, especially given they're meant for children's television, to watch an episode," Alucard conceded nonchalantly. "It's baffling and hypocritical what humans intentionally slip into children's programming, and yet get so riled over violent movies and video games, or protest the news speaking about crimes during hours children may be awake and watching." Without pausing, he added, "Also, should you ever breathe a word about said admission, especially to another with connections to vampires, I can promise you I will tear your voice box out and feed it to you raw."

Bold-faced, darkly-spoken threat or not, Mercedes could only laugh all the more as the vampire revealed that unexpected fact and then disparagingly criticized parents.

If he knew Jerry usually got the best of Tom, and the bulldog sometimes helped, Alucard had obviously seen more than one episode.

The satirical mental image of the sire of all vampires, who had single-handedly set the standard for creative slaughter and insanity-inducing psychological warfare, watching a cartoon while sitting in his coffin and sipping a goblet of blood came to mind unbidden.

Mercedes was glad Xander was in a deep hypnotic sleep because she could have potentially woken him with how hard she was laughing right now.

"Alucard, you really are just about impossible to try figuring out," the young woman said between laughs, her injured ribs aching acutely from said laughter she was trying to smother. "But your secret it safe with me. Wouldn't want your reputation destroyed, or myself to end up dead, over a cartoon."

"Smart seer. It would be a waste of perfectly good blood to deliver the fitting punishment for such a crime," Alucard deadpanned.

Mercedes could see a smirk creeping at the edges of the vampire's mouth a few seconds later. She shook her head in amusement, still laughing a little, and stood to get herself another cup of coffee.

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After an extended period of almost comfortable silence had passed in wait for dawn to come, Mercedes decided to summon up her hound, Hades, to help keep her mind occupied.

The large hellhound materialized almost instantly, glad for the chance to be with his mistress and in her plane of existence. Hades shook his furry head with excitement and then loped to his mistress's side and began licking her face affectionately.

"Ugh, Hades! How many times do I need tell you- not the face, your breath reeks." Mercedes wrinkled her nose, his doggy breath having the additional strong scents of sulfur, smoke and mugwort. The enchantress ignored the raised eyebrow from Alucard at the display and began petting the demonic familiar as though he was a regular dog.

Hades hopped up on the couch next to her and playfully knocked her over by jumping on her.

Mercedes laughed in amusement and shoved the five-eyed hound off herself, ruffling the spiky mane of fur around his head and causing him to growl in irritation as she messed up the placement. Mercedes smirked as Hades retreated and began rubbing a paw against his fur.

Watching the familiar groom himself, Mercedes said with amusement, "You're such a vain little pup. The gods forbid your torc of fur gets displaced."

Hades gave a playful snap of his teeth at his mistress and an affirmative bark, hellfire eyes flaring brighter red.

Mercedes giggled as she reached forward and messed up the fur on top of his head with a quick pet.

The hell hound caught her hand between his three rows of razor-sharp teeth, careful not to break skin as he held her trapped there with a teasing growl.

"Heyyy," Mercedes reprimanded. "Behave and let go, Hades. That was payback for the daimon doggy breath in my face. Even my Dead Sea face washes have a hard time removing your stench from my skin."

Hades released her hand and gave an apologetic lick to the indents he had left in her skin, gazing over at his mistress with wide flaming eyes.

Mercedes smiled and pet his foreleg affectionately, causing the hound to pant happily and then settle down on the couch next to her.

"How is it that you've domesticated your familiars so much?" Alucard asked impassively from the chair where he had been viewing the exchange.

Mercedes shrugged with a small smile, petting the hell hound's back now as he made small rumbling pleased noises. "They weren't always this friendly," she said, looking up from Hades to meet Alucard's similar hellfire gaze. "Cerberus was the first hound I summoned from the underworld, and Hades was the next, and they were rather vicious without relent back then."

Mercedes gave a slight smirk as Hades licked at her hand with his overly long tongue to prompt her to resume her patting which she had accidentally stopped.

The pagan priestess humored her familiar and continued speaking. "But I had enough enchantments, and skills in training hounds from growing up with large hunting dogs, that I was able to wrestle them under control and get them to serve me well enough after a time. As I came to understand them better and worked around their individual temperaments to train them, they likewise began to trust me and we formed quite the bond with one another. They started trying harder to behave themselves as they realized that would allow them more freedoms when summoned and they helped me train the others. The one I call Athena is actually Hades' mate, but her personality is too cunning and combative to be called Persephone. They are still extremely vicious when they're allowed to go out to feed or told to attack someone who is a threat to Xander and I, but they know their place in our little family and know not to push their mistress's set rules."

Hades gave a little bark and wag of his massive furry tail at the mention of feeding. His tongue lolled over his rows of teeth in a doggy grin and made whimpering noises.

"I know, Hades, you're hungry. You'll be getting fed soon enough," Mercedes said with a laugh.

Hades humph-ed a bit over that and then nodded once grudgingly.

Mercedes laughed again. "Smart ass. Even a mighty hound like you, named after the God of the Underworld, needs to wait his turn."

Hades snorted air through his nose and playfully nipped at his mistress's leg, causing her to swat at his coal-hot nose.

"And who do you feed them with when there aren't any convenient Iscariot members or alley attackers?" Alucard asked, continuing to watch the exchange with a stoic expression.

"I don't personally feed them anyone otherwise," Mercedes replied. "I'm not a fan of seeing people get eaten. The hounds are capable of hunting down their own meals discreetly when I release them for a feeding to keep them satisfied and behaving. I have them trained to eat criminals and gangsters and this city has plenty of those for them to choose from."

"And you are not concerned they might stray from that diet if you're not there to reinforce it?" Alucard asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Nope," Mercedes said definitively. "They know what I expect from them and what will happen if they don't do as told. I made all four of them watch when I destroyed the fifth for being hostile to Xander to reinforce my point. They are better fed serving me as I dictate than they'd be if they didn't have someone summoning them exclusively, so they do as told. And, as I said, one of the benefits of living in a city like Philly is there are plenty of people I find to be acceptable dog chow for the hounds to eat, so they don't need to possibly deviate from that because they ran out of approved food."

"And you don't feel the least bit guilty over feeding other humans to your hounds?"

Alucard's voice was perfectly neutral and Mercedes wasn't sure why he was questioning her about such.

"Why should I?" she replied frankly. "I would feel bad if they were eating helpless little old ladies, kids, or regular people who aren't doing anything wrong, but they don't. Nor do I release them simply so they can kill for the pleasure of it. As I said earlier tonight, everything needs something to survive and remain in top health. And in carnivores' cases, that is another living thing. Humans have gotten used to the idea that they're at the top of the food chain and it's not an everyday concern in the modern world to wonder if we might get eaten, but that doesn't mean we can't be and humans take that for granted. Mundane examples would be cases where people down south get mauled by alligators, surfers getting eaten by a shark, or people in Africa being attacked by a lion.

"I certainly don't want to get eaten by anything, as you've seen I'll fight to avoid that happening, but if something hungry manages to overpower me regardless, that's natural order and survival. Would suck for me, but that's the way it is. Likewise, my hounds eat humans. They can't control that aspect of their existence. But they can control who they eat. I have trained them to eat those who radiate negative destructive auras when I release them to hunt on their own. They are more than intelligent enough to reason out who I would or would not find acceptable to be eaten and they hunt in pairs to keep each other in check to be certain one of them doesn't slip up. We have a fair exchange for them serving me and protecting my son and I."

"So you apply concepts like natural order to your consideration of such matters as demonic familiars eating humans?"

Again, Mercedes couldn't sense whatever emotions might be driving Alucard's persistent line of questioning and it was beginning to frustrate her. The vampire was still sitting down and keeping an entirely stoic expression and tone as he met her gaze and listened to her answers.

"Yes, I do," Mercedes said. She gave a small sigh of aggravation. "I don't understand why that's so hard to understand." She frowned a moment, trying to think of some other explanation that might be useful. Finally, the pagan priestess said pensively, thinking of Tukiko and talks they once had, "Alucard, do you know where the term 'demon' comes from?"

"The Latin word, 'daemon'. It means 'evil spirit'," Alucard answered immediately.

"Mhm," Mercedes nodded. "And do you know what 'daimon' means? The original meaning for the Greek word over two thousand years ago that the early Christian Romans stole their word from?"

"Honestly, I am not familiar with variations of the word that date that far back."

"It means something akin to 'divine power' or 'guiding spirit'," Mercedes said instructively.

The empath could finally sense a bit of curiosity from the vampire, and a great deal of disbelief, as Alucard raised an eyebrow and turned his head to look at her more fully.

Mercedes continued the thoughts she had quietly but with a great deal of conviction. "The term didn't always mean something that was considered 'evil'. The nuance behind the word changed when Christianity began to exterminate pagan religions and 'demonize' everything they didn't agree with. In ancient Greek beliefs, as well as most European pagan beliefs, and the Shinto Spiritualistic beliefs that Tukiko san followed even after becoming a vampire, those beings termed in some fashion or other as 'demons' are not viewed so simply as being definitively good or evil. They simply are. Some kinds are mischievous, others beneficent, others destructive. But as a whole, they are not any one classification. And they are seen as every bit apart of Universal Laws as humans and those beings who always live on this plane of existence.

"Daimons have rules and guiding morals of their own sort that dictate their behavior and interactions with others. Sometimes those personal laws were different from those of humans and because they were so foreign it made it difficult for humans to understand them and to interact with them. But they are there and if one truly understands those rules, one can avoid potential pitfalls in dealing with daimons.

"You are the first of your kind, one who can tap the forces of darkness to an extent none other has achieved and lives an ageless existence. You control daimons, or demons as you prefer, can make more like yourself, and some would classify you and those like you as demons. But whatever you are, you still walk this plane of existence like anyone else; like those other types of daimons who were here before you. And even with all your power, there are still Universal Laws that govern your existence that even you can't overcome, and there are personal laws that you use in determining your actions. Even if it is hard for others to understand what your reasoning and rules might be, you still have shown that there is, as the common saying goes, 'A method to your madness'."

Alucard's expression was entirely incredulous to Mercedes's assessment of him, but the seer continued to speak before he could interrupt her, holding up a hand to ask for patience so she could get out the full explanation running through her head.

"Such differences do not make 'demonic' beings evil. Nor does it make them good. And neither are humans innately good or evil. Like daimons, we simply are. It's our choices that make us 'evil' or 'good'. And good and evil are very different from creative and destructive or light and dark. Current happenings as an example: Iscariot is comprised of Catholics, those who worship the Christian God, who is considered by most to be a god of creation and the 'light' side of metaphysical forces. And some Christians live good lives that don't harm others and let their actions be guided by positive intentions. Yet Iscariot, like so many specific incidences in their precious bible, go out of their way to persecute those who are not like them. They will try to kill my son and I for some reason, and would do it in our sleep no less. They killed Fumiko and Tukiko san. They killed vampires whom my vampire friends here in Philly knew. They've killed countless other vampires and sometimes humans they've marked as heretics. They're fanatics filled with hatred, anger, and intolerance. They don't kill in self-defense, they kill out of arrogance and greed. They are not 'good'. They are uncontrolled forces of destruction committing great evil.

"The priest Fumiko drained, the pedophiles and child abusers, they were humans as well and they were evil by their actions. Fumiko was a vampire, but she was not evil. Not by how I view the word. She and Tukiko san ate people to survive, accepting that was what they needed to do to keep their strength. They didn't hunt people down to simply destroy them and, when possible, they kept their acts of necessary destruction to those who were evil and put that destruction to good use. That was Tukiko san's influences to his own life based on his beliefs, and his influences on Fumiko once she was under his protection. His name wasn't always Tukiko. 'Tukiko' means 'child of the moon' and that was how he viewed himself and the name he chose for himself after becoming a vampire reflected that. He didn't view himself as some evil, damned being like most view vampires as being, but as a child of darkness that is granted its own form of light to guide him. A 'youkai', in his beliefs, similar to the Greek 'daimon'. Something that was as it was, without being inherently good or evil. He believed what he did with his power, with his undead existence, determined whether he was good or evil.

"My hounds kill and eat humans for the same reason my vampire friends did and do- survival. Either their own to keep up their strength, or to protect us for our survival. The daimonic familiars are destructive and created from the forces of darkness, but it is destruction for a purpose and they are not evil for that. I am a pagan priestess and seer. Some would call me a witch and label me as evil because I call forces of darkness with my enchantments and was born with the gifts of sight and empathy. But I have never once killed another in cold blood. I have never gone hunting for a fight to persecute another or try to force them to believe as I do. I live my life quietly when I can, I use my gifts to help people when I can, and I protect my son and myself when necessary. As a priestess, I perform weddings for pagans, or for those from different faiths whose own ministers won't acknowledge two people from different beliefs wanting to join their lives. I perform blessing rituals for prosperity to new businesses opening, or for good health for newborn babies. I volunteer when I have time for local charities and take my son along so he can learn to help others. Take away the small fact I'm a pagan, most would call me an extremely 'good' person who mostly commits creative acts. But I will destroy a threat to protect myself and my family and I draw from the forces of darkness to have the power to do so.

"My own beliefs from all my research in religions, and everything Tukiko-san taught me of his beliefs, leads me to believe in something some would consider impossibly complex, yet in the same token I feel is a very simple line of thought. Creation can't go unchecked. People and living things couldn't all simply reproduce at will and never die; there'd be nothing to feed them, nothing to sustain such growth. Creation unchecked is like a cancer growing out of control. Destructive forces are needed to keep a balance.

"Tukiko san liked the metaphor of a living tree being struck by lightning and dying, but then that dead and rotting tree becomes a home for moss and other plant life, insects or ground animals. Those living things become food for others, which is destructive again, but allows those higher up on the food chain to live until they find their own end and their own corpses feed the earth that supports that plant life that started the cycle. He taught me that creation and destruction are two sides of a whole, opposing forces that ebb and flow in their own times and sometimes clash violently because of their natures. The same goes for light and darkness, the forces that hold sway in their own rights and that creation and destruction both belong under depending on what is specifically taking place. And neither of those two sets of forces, light and dark, creation and destruction, are good or evil. They are simple Universal Law and exist.

"Good and Evil is what people choose to do when acting out Universal Law, what drives their motives and choices when calling upon the forces that exist. So yes, I hold vampires and daimons like my hounds accountable to Natural Order and Universal Laws. I hold my actions and those I encounter to them. Which, if you're curious, does include you as well. And from what I've seen of you, I view you as being often destructive, and obviously aligned with the forces of darkness, but I don't view you as being a paragon of evil as you have often been described as."

Alucard gave a sardonic laugh at that, his outward expression distinctly mocking of that assessment.

The empathic seer smirked, ignoring his attitude as she could sense the vampire felt surprise and confusion by her comment, though a strong amount of disagreement was also coming off him.

Mercedes continued before Alucard could stop laughing and start arguing, "I'm not saying I think you're a force of goodness and kindness who will go cuddling bunnies and bouncing kids on his knee while handing them lollipops, so you can stop your creepy maniacal laughter, Alucard." Alucard's chuckles continued with that bold comment. "I am well aware you're a volatile, dangerous killer, and you're arrogant and annoyingly manipulative when you want to be."

"A volatile, dangerous killer, yes," Alucard flashed a nearly feral grin as he interjected. "I'd classify the latter traits as confident, indomitable, persuasive and seductive."

"Humility is also not rightly counted among traits of yours, your majesty."

Alucard's laughter was renewed by that sarcastic comment from the young woman, though it didn't last as long as before.

Mercedes shook her head with a smirk. "But, despite your many traits, you're willing to be a civil ally when it comes to Iscariot and I'll admit that you put forward a plan that minimizes risk to my son and I. Contrary to what I had first feared, you held to your word about allowing me to come home safely if I answered your questions. I can't rightfully judge your actions outside those we've personally had based off hearsay and stories. I wasn't present for those incidents. I have no idea what your motivations were during the course of them, nor what precisely led up to each. Therefore, at this point, you haven't given me reason to believe you're evil. Just a destructive force of darkness that has rather complicated personal rules for interacting with you successfully. But, then again, the beliefs and views I have of such terms are also formed by my spiritual viewpoint, which predates and differs from the common monotheistic beliefs most people judge by.

"And likewise, no, I am not going to deem myself evil or feel guilty or remorseful for being what I am, born as I was and training myself as I have to protect myself and control my gifts. Nor for allowing my hounds to be as they were created and channeling their own natures towards outlets I find acceptable. Especially when they conform to that mandate and show loyalty and affection to myself and Xander. The only thing I have guilt or remorse for is the times when I have failed to protect those I feel I should have."

Mercedes shrugged and then gave a slightly rueful smile. "And now I'm done trying to explain myself for tonight and I'll hop off my soap box. Take my rambling explanation as you will, Alucard. I don't expect to change your own ways of thinking, simply trying to clarify for you where I'm coming from and how my thoughts work on such matters as I really do not want to have to constantly explain myself to you."

Alucard was again watching her with the same inscrutable expression he had donned earlier and was silent for nearly a minute after she was finished.

Mercedes eventually felt more than a little uncomfortable with the vampire's unwavering gaze, once more unable to sense any specific emotions he had underlying his perpetual bad mood. She turned her attention to her hell hound, who had rest his head on her lap mid-speech and was laying quietly beside her. Mercedes shook her head fondly and scratched behind the familiar's ear, causing Hades to nuzzle against her stomach and snuff a bit in contentment.

A smirk came to Alucard's lips as he watched the human and hell hound interact. "You really are not a normal human, Seer," he said with a hint of amusement. "And for one so young, you certainly have a rather more advanced view of the world than most would have at even thrice your age."

Mercedes shrugged again, looking up from Hades. "I am what I am. There are advantages and disadvantages to being me and having lived life as I have with the people I've been close to. But it's all been a learning experience." The pagan priestess sighed and looked down at her demonic familiar again, resuming scratching behind his ear. She added more sedately, "And when this is done, I'm hoping to continue life and have many more experiences to learn from, though I hope with a bit less possible fatality to the lessons."

Hades licked Mercedes's hand encouragingly, sensing his mistress's worry. She gave the hound a wistful smile.

"Hold that resolve if and when you fight," Alucard said, "and you may just live to do so."

"I hope so," Mercedes said with a slightly better humored smile, looking back up at the vampire. "When I was little, only about six or so, and visiting family of mine in France, my favorite big cousin took me to go ice skating. He taught me _le premier_ lesson of my life. I had just strapped on the ice skates and he said, 'Now, _ma petite cousine_ , before I teach you to skate, I am going to teach you how to fall'."

"How to fall?" Alucard asked with a smirk, already guessing where this lesson was going.

Mercedes nodded with a wider smile. "Being a little girl, I was confused when _mon cousin_ said that. When I asked him ' _Pour quoi_?', he said- ' _Parce que_ , when you are going to try anything new in life, or even face something you've done before but can cause you injury, you are going to eventually fall. Many, many times. You need to know that possibility exists, know how to minimize the damage when it inevitably happens, and know how to pick yourself back up afterwards. Otherwise, _ma petite cousine_ , you will never get anywhere in life except being down on the ground and waiting for the next injury to come.' And he was right. I've always kept that lesson in my mind and I try to apply it to every situation."

"Your cousin sounds like a smart man," Alucard said with a nod.

"In his own ways, _mon cousin_ is one of the smartest men I know," Mercedes said with a wistful smile. "I have not seen him since I was a teenager. He is off living his own life and I mine. I'm not even sure where he is right now. He's always in one place or other. The last time we spoke was when _ma mère_ died a few years ago. He had called me to let me know he was unable to make it to the funeral because he was stuck in a job he couldn't bail on. Thinking of _mon cousin_ now, perhaps when this is over I will have to track his gypsy butt down and drag him out ice skating again. Xander is getting old enough to learn that important lesson and _mon cousin_ being there for it would be a nice trip down memory lane."

"Sounds like something to look forward to," Alucard replied with a smirk remaining.

"I think so," Mercedes said, trying to remain optimistic. "And when this is over, Alucard, what do you plan to do when you get back to England?"

Alucard smirked a little wider and then turned his gaze forward, looking along Mercedes's bookshelves. "Much as I usually do, I suspect. This current conflict with Iscariot will come to resolution, but that won't be the end of my battles with them. Such interactions to keep the Catholic Dogs in line help occupy my time when training my servants to control their powers does not."

"I suppose you do need such goals to break up the monotony," Mercedes noted wryly.

"Indeed," Alucard said soberly, smirk lessening and still keeping his gaze forward. "Six centuries is a long time to exist if one doesn't have some purpose to it."

Mercedes's smile disappeared as she looked at the progenitor of vampires contemplatively, thinking of the other vampires she had known. "I imagine it is."

.

.

.

AN: I apologize for skipping a week in updates. There's was a family tragedy for a friend, and as an interfaith minister, it was my responsibility to be emotional support during that trying time. I'm also trying to plan, from out of state, my sister's wedding, which I am helping to provide decorations as well as my services for officiating the ceremony. I also bought fish a few weeks ago, named Dracul and Înger, and they ended up proving troublesome and requiring a lot of attention. Along with the usual life demands. Second update will be forth coming.


	12. Chapter 12 Guild Calls

Chapter Twelve

Guild Calls

Half an hour later, Mercedes's cell phone began ringing. She checked the ID, saw it was Val, and her expression shifted to confused concern.

"It's just my best friend, Valarie," Mercedes said in response to Alucard's inquiring look.

Alucard gave a nod in understanding and Mercedes answered the phone.

"Heya Val," Mercedes said. "It's a bit later than usual to be calling. Is everything okay? Did pop-pop end up in the hospital after all?"

"No, pop-pop is still home in bed and sleeping," Val said with a distinctly vexed tone. "But you were supposed to be logged on an hour ago for the boss run tonight. The loud-mouth fuck said we've been sitting on our asses waiting for you long enough and I either called you or he did, but we needed to get this show on the road."

Mercedes groaned in remembrance. " _Basier ma vie_ … That's right… I completely forgot we were making that run tonight…"

"Uh, yeah, that was tonight Mercedes," Val said, clearly displeased by the absentmindedness. "We've only been planning this run for the last three weeks with trying to get everyone's schedules matched up."

"I know Chibi," Mercedes said in placation. "I'm sorry. I've just had a lot on my mind the last few days."

"Yeah, ok," Val said in a more chipper tone. "Now your memory is jogged, so hop your ass on and let's get moving!"

"I kinda can't though…" Mercedes said with a grimace.

"Why the hell not?!" Val exclaimed. "You're home aren't you?!"

"Of course I'm home, Val…" Mercedes ignored the raised eyebrow from Alucard as he listened to her best friend question her.

"Your computer isn't acting up again, is it?" Val interrupted.

"No, but…"

"So what the balls is the problem?" Val asked impatiently. "Me and Luke have been trying to keep Jan from flying off half-cocked for the last hour, which is about as difficult as defeating a Tarrasque with a stock party starting at level 1!"

"That's a literal impossibility," Mercedes deadpanned.

"Exactly! I don't know how much longer we're going to be able to keep his ass in a stasis."

"Chibi, I feel your pain," Mercedes said patiently, "but I have company tonight. I can't hop on right now as it would be rude to them, and I really can't go starting up a boss run like this right now as I might need to suddenly bounce off and then you'd all be left hanging."

"You have company tonight?! Seriously? Tonight of all nights?!" Val exclaimed, sounding half outraged and half curious. "Who is over there? Geo and Felix? Liam? Did CJ follow you home from work again for a meal? Cuz they can all take a hike, we've got a game to play."

Alucard gave the seer a pointed look to remind her to be careful what she said

Mercedes gave him a glare; she didn't need the silent reminder.

"No, it's not anyone you know, Val," Mercedes said evasively.

"Then who is it and why is it so damned important that we can't make this run?" Val asked even more indignantly.

"Val, I'm not getting into it tonight, but suffice it to say I'm a bit preoccupied and this either needs to get shuffled about so I'm not needed or rain checked."

"Holy hell! You've got a guy over there, don't you?" Val asked in surprise. "About the only way I can see you blowing off a run like this is if you're finally getting a better kind of action again."

Mercedes was instantly blushing and refused to even glance in the vampire's direction as she knew his hearing would have easily caught that loud declaration.

"Val," Mercedes said in a clipped tone, "it's not like that at all."

"Uh-huh, sure." Val wasn't the least convinced. "Who is he, Mercedes? It is a he?"

"My guest is a he, Val, but it's not what you're thinking."

"A guy is at your place this late at night and you're gonna tell me it's not what I think it is?" Val asked, highly affronted. "I'm not stupid, Mercedes. Who is he? Is he cute?"

"Val, I am so not having this discussion," Mercedes said in embarrassment, as she could hear Alucard chuckling now. "Especially not with my guest here."

"I can hear he's there; he's got a sexy laugh!" Val was instantly intrigued. "Please tell me the rest of him is that sexy?!"

"Val!" Mercedes had to restrain herself from yelling.

"Come on, Mercedes! Tell me!" Val pleaded.

"Yes, do answer that, _draga mea_." Alucard's sultry Romanian accent was back as he spoke aloud. "I'm almost as curious to hear your opinion to your friend's question as she is."

Mercedes shot the vampire a vicious glare, seeing him smirking rather tauntingly again. She couldn't believe he was pulling this stunt twice in one night. Especially as he well knew they had to be concerned with keeping others unaware of the looming situation and he was now making that more complicated to have happen. Mercedes didn't have time to retort though, as she was nearly deafened by Val.

"Oh my god!" Val exclaimed, voice hiking an entire octave higher before dropping again. "That accent is as sexy as the laugh! Who is he, Mercedes?! How did you meet him? Please tell me he's as hot as that accent? He sounds like he should be a voice actor for Castlevania!"

Mercedes hung her head in irritation. She heard Alucard chuckling even more so at Val's assessment. She shot the progenitor of vampires another furious glare as she answered her surrogate sister, "Val, he's just a business associate."

"You're conducting business this late at night?" Val was puzzled. "That doesn't make any sense. And I know you're a seer, Mercedes, so you can't lie… But then that means you're not telling me something, cuz no one conducts business at this hour unless they're vampires like Liam or Davin or something…" Mercedes's mental prayer that the pause didn't mean what she thought it meant went unanswered because Valarie quickly exclaimed, "Wait a minute?! Holy shit! Mercedes, is he a vampire?!"

Mercedes sighed and partially conceded. "He might be."

"And vampires are almost always hotties! How in the hell do you manage to meet all the undead hotties?! Please tell me you're gonna bang him?! I don't care if he's there for business right now. You desperately need to get laid and if he's been around any length of time, he's gotta be good in bed. You need to fuck him!"

Mercedes had no response to that. She was too mortified to speak. Especially as Alucard was laughing all over again, even more profusely than before.

"Mercedes?" Val said from the other end of the conversation. "Mercedes? Come on, Mercedes, I know you're there! Answer me! I haven't gotten any since the Dragon Prince at con last year, so I've gotta live vicariously through you. Bang him and then give me all the juicy details!"

"The Dragon Prince?" Alucard asked in confusion with a raised eyebrow.

Mercedes glared at him and clarified so his already inflated ego wouldn't get larger. "It's a character from a fantasy series whose country is constantly having issues with dragons. Someone was dressed up like him for a costume convention."

"What's your sexy-accented vampire look like?" Val asked from the other end of the line. "Could he pull off a Dragon Prince cos-play?"

"Not the Dragon Prince you're thinking of, no," Mercedes said wryly. "Now, seriously, Val, let's drop the subject and say goodnight so you can try working out with Luke what to do about tonight's run."

"Woah, not that quick," Val argued. "You can't let slip you've got a sexy voiced vampire over there and then change the subject like that! Dish, Mercedes!"

Mercedes's phone made a beep noise. She glanced at the screen and groaned in even greater irritation. "Val, I thought you said that Jan was letting you make the call?"

"…He was?" Val stopped her questioning to answer hesitantly in confusion.

"Then why is he calling me right now?" Mercedes demanded, phone still beeping with the incoming call.

"Probably got sick of waiting for you to hop on and I'm silent on the guild chat right now," Val said dismissively. "I should have noticed it got silent all of a sudden."

Mercedes's phone stopped beeping because she sent the call from Jan to voicemail.

Three seconds later, it started beeping all over again.

" _Par les dieux_!" Mercedes exclaimed in frustration. "Jan's calling again. Val, can you message or Skype Luke and tell him to confiscate Jan's cell? Please? I am so not in the mood to deal with him tonight."

"Not unless you start dishing on the guy at your place," Val countered mischievously.

Mercedes gave another groan of frustration and stomped a foot in irritation. "I'm seriously about thirty seconds away from turning my cell off, removing the battery, and not putting it back in until I have to go to work tomorrow. Tell Luke to deal with Jan and then you and Luke figure out an alternative to tonight's run."

Her phone stopped beeping. Then started a third time.

"Nope," Val said immovably. "Jan's saying on guild chat that if you don't answer his calls or have your ass signed on in the next five minutes, he's heading up to Philly and he'll give you a reason to be too busy to make a boss run."

"Like Luke would let him leave the state and head back up to the tri-state area against the Elders' orders," Mercedes countered, entirely unconcerned by the threat. "Val, I'm gonna let you go so I can deal with Jan and talk to Luke real quick to try sorting this out."

"Wait, wait, wait…" Val said immediately.

Mercedes hung up on her best friend. She looked over at Alucard and glared even more furiously as she saw he still looked amused.

The human heiress pointed at the Vampire King and said in frustration, "You, your majesty, really are an incorrigible bastard. Believe when I say, I'll eventually get you back for this unnecessary, disruptive mischief somehow. A seer must always keep her willingly given word and I am giving you my word on that. Now be quiet when Jan calls again. You really don't want him hearing you and figuring out who you are, as he would be highly likely to start running his mouth to the entirety of the American vampire community about where you're spending your evenings."

"As you say," Alucard said with a nod of his head, still smirking.

When Jan called a fourth time, Mercedes answered the call.

"Evening, Jan," she said as levelly as she could. "Thanks for blowing up my phone."

"Mercy-cakes!" Jan's voice was like a foghorn through the speaker and Mercedes had to hold the phone away from her ear. "Got my second favorite guild bitch to answer her goddamned phone, so whatever the fuck works! Why the hell aren't you logged on yet?! Hell's Harem has a boss to gang rape and we can't do that without our Queen of the Biatches there to kiss our wounds and make them all better if things get a little rough in the process!"  
"Jan, I'm sorry, but something came up for tonight," Mercedes said, trying to remain patient. "Can you please put Luke on the phone so I can try to work something out with him to salvage the run tonight or reschedule?"

"What?!" Jan yelled in surprise. "What the fuck do you mean 'something came up for tonight'?! Is the little dude sick again?!"

"No, he's fine…"

"Computer busted again?!"

"No, my computer is fine…"

"Then what the fuck, Mercedes?!" Jan demanded indignantly. "We've been planning on tromping this fucker for weeks! Hell's Harem needs you there to support the rest of us while we fuck this fucker's shit up! You can't just back out at the last fucking minute!"

"Jan, I said I'm sorry." Mercedes tried to offer a solution to this set-back that was unintentionally her fault- "Please put Luke on the phone so I can try to fix something with him. He's got the cleric cross class that could sub for me tonight."

"Fuck that shit!" Jan protested vehemently. "Luke isn't half the healer you are. And if he hops on as healer, we're going in without our best healer AND our best DPS. No fucking way! We'll get slaughtered like a bunch of pussies instead of being the ones to deliver the bloodbath! I don't care what our Queen Bitch has to fucking do to do it, but get your sweet ass on the goddamned computer, log the mother-fucking on, and let's go pound this one out like we planned! Otherwise I'm gonna fly up there and pound one out in you for fucking the whole guild up the ass by ditching on us!"

"Jan!" Mercedes snapped out at the crass vampire, at her tolerance level for irritations. "Seriously?! I've had it for tonight! Put Luke on the gods-damned phone, or I'm sending one of my hounds down there right now to bite your junk off and then you won't be fucking anything in the near future unless you're the one taking it up the ass!"

Mercedes saw Alucard raise an eyebrow at that threat. She gave him a pointed smirk, wordlessly asking if that was well enough threatened.

Alucard smirked wider and gave a single approving nod.

"Fuck! Mercedes!" Jan was yelling in horror. "You wouldn't fucking dare!"

"I've had a rough week, so try me, Jan," Mercedes replied sharply. "Put Luke on the phone."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah…" Jan reluctantly agreed. "Hold your tits and your dogs in check a moment, Bitch Queen. He's getting himself something to drink. When you decide to get all Damme it's fucking sexy and I don't need your hounds snapping my wood off before I get to jerk off just cuz big bro wanted his over-fucking-priced blood-wine break."

"Fair enough," Mercedes said with a sigh.

"So, Mercy-cakes…" Jan said, almost conversationally. "While we're waiting on big brother... Why aren't you making this run tonight?"

"I have some real life business to deal with," Mercedes said simply.

"What sort of business?"

"None of yours."

"Fuck off, Mercedes!" Jan exclaimed indignantly. "Here I am trying to be all polite and shit and you're gonna go being like that?"

"Jan, it's business, and you don't know how to keep your mouth shut for more than twenty seconds when the business isn't yours," Mercedes said flatly. "I'm not getting into it with you."

"Hey! Hey! Give that fucking back! I'm not done with Mercy-cakes!"

Mercedes could hear brief scuffling on the other end, more cursing from Jan that was becoming steadily further in the background until it faded away, and then Luke chuckling.

"Good evening, my dear Mercedes," Luke said in good humor.

"Good evening, Luke," Mercedes said in far nicer tones. "You're a gentleman and a scholar for rescuing me from the base refuse. I shall assume either Val filled you in or you overheard Jan's exclamations?"

"It's always my pleasure to be of service to the lady. And yes, Val made mention you are indisposed this evening for business. I also overheard as much as you were speaking with my idiot brother." Luke spoke with noticeably aggrieved tones in regards to Jan. "I can certainly take over as healer for this run; my secondary should be adequate for this boss. I messaged Vin and Kara when Val said you were unable to join the run tonight to see if one of them could hop on as DPS. I am still waiting to hear from them. If one of them are unable to fill in for my spot, we can reschedule for another night."

"Thank you, Luke," Mercedes said with a sigh of relief.

"My pleasure," Luke said pleasantly. "This is the first scheduled run you've had to miss in two years. It's not that big of a deal as the loud mouth is making it sound."

"Which one?" Mercedes asked wryly.

"Either, I suppose," Luke agreed, chuckling in amusement. "Oh, by the way. I received the book you sent me yesterday. Thank you again for tracking down that compendium."

"Oh! I'm glad to hear it made it there safely! And like I told you before, it was no problem," Mercedes replied. "Most anything can be found, especially on the internet, if you know where to look and are persistent. I just happened to catch that one quickly enough after being listed to secure it."

"Easy for the seer to say," Luke joked. "Not all of us have senses that poke us in the right direction at the right times so often. I've been trying to find a copy for nearly five years now."

"Hey, I can't always get hints on cue, nor can I make things be available just because I want them to be," Mercedes protested. "It took me nearly eight years to hunt down my tarot deck. Sometimes it's just good old fashioned persistence."

"Fair enough," Luke conceded. "I won't keep you any longer as you are busy this evening. I hope all goes well with whatever business it is you have."

"Thank you, Luke," Mercedes said with another sigh, this one a shade stressed. "I hope so as well."

"Are you alright, Mercedes?" Luke asked with a note of concern.

"Yeah, I'll be fine," Mercedes replied. "It's just been a long week."

"Well, there isn't much I can personally do exiled out here in the sticks, but if my lady does need those services I can offer, you know how to reach me," Luke offered reassuringly.

"I know and I appreciate that, Luke," Mercedes said sincerely. "I have a busy few days ahead from the looks of things, but sometime in the next week or two, we'll try to catch up."

"Sounds delightful," Luke replied. "Try to have a pleasant evening."

"I'd say you as well," Mercedes said with a smile, "but I'm leaving you to Jan and Val's mercy, so I'll go with 'Good luck'."

Luke chuckled. "Thank you. Good night, Mercedes."

"Good night, Luke." Mercedes ended the call and let out a sigh of relief.

"You weren't exaggerating in the least with your description of your best friend or that Jan person," Alucard noted.

Mercedes glanced over at the vampire and gave a rueful laugh at the look of mordant amusement on his face.

"Now you see what I'm dealing with?" Mercedes asked rhetorically. "Like I said, you could have been stuck dealing with more-difficult-to-cooperate-with American allies. All things considered, Luke is a decent guy and we get along pretty well as we're both history buffs. Val really is a sweetheart and one of the most loyal friends imaginable under all her swearing and outbursts, but she can be relentless at times. As you obviously overheard, she grilled me and I'm sure I haven't heard the end of it, but she only told the guys I had business. She does know when to keep her mouth shut. Jan is mostly just a pain in the ass to deal with, though. He has his good moments, particularly in alleviating tense moods with some ridiculous stunts, but he has the attention span of a squirrel on crack and the temper of a rabid starving mutt, and you heard the results of that. I don't know how Luke hasn't killed him by now except to say it's family obligation and he'd otherwise be stuck as the only vampire within a few hundred miles of where they're living."

"I heard you make mention to your friend that the two vampires were not allowed in the tri-state area," Alucard commented. "And Luke said something about being exiled?"

"Indeed," Mercedes said wryly. "They used to live here in Philly up until the nineties, but Jan started to get on some of the Elders bad sides. Small wonder there." She rolled her eyes. "And then Luke went snooping in some archives that he wasn't supposed to because, as I said, he's a history buff like I am, but he had less reservations about how he obtained materials he wanted than I do. He wasn't caught in the act, but the Elders knew it was him. I'm not sure exactly what happened or what he was looking into. I just know that the Elders gave Luke the option to move himself and his brother down to Oklahoma, which is the equivalent of hell on earth for vampires in this country and none live there if they don't have to, and not leave the state boundaries unless they plan to leave the country permanently, or they'd be dead. So they moved down there and opened a club."

"Oklahoma?" Alucard asked, raising an eyebrow. "They have a lot of tornados if memory serves me correctly."

"Yes, they do," Mercedes replied, confused to his line of thought.

"You mentioned your son slept through a tornado while visiting friends," Alucard pointed out. "Were they the friends you were visiting?"

"Oh." Mercedes coughed nervously and looked away. "Might have been them."

"You weren't concerned about the dangers of visiting vampires you only knew from the internet who lived across the country?"

"As you've seen, I'm perfectly capable of handling myself against average threats," Mercedes replied matter-of-factly to the thinly veiled rebuke, gaze back on the progenitor of vampires. "They're vampires, so an attempt to attack me would have been treated quite differently than humans. While Luke could have been a significant danger if he wished to be, we have a fairly strong rapport with one another due to similar interests in research. I knew he'd not wish to kill someone he can intelligently converse with as there are so few for him to do so with. Not to mention, Luke knows I'm friends with Elders. He well knows he would ruin any chances of getting back in their good graces and his exile lifted if he harmed me, and in fact would have signed his own perma-death warrant by doing so. Being friendly with me gains him far more than endangering me, and he is more than smart enough to use that to his advantage. Jan is more bark than bite, especially as Luke keeps him on a short leash, so being around him is more a danger to one's mental faculties than their physical wellbeing."

"Yet you allowed your son around a vampire who can't speak a sentence without swearing or making some crass comment?" Alucard asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Xander was a baby at the time, so he wasn't likely to pick up the bad language, and Luke made Jan mostly stay at the club while we were visiting," Mercedes replied a bit defensively, blush faintly forming. "I went down to trade notes and books with Luke on something and Val came along to help keep an eye on Xander or keep Jan occupied so we could work in peace. And Jan was under threat of slow death from both Luke and I if he slipped up in front of Xander like that. Summoning Cerberus and Hades on him once was all it took to keep him mostly behaving."

"Is that why he calls you 'Bitch Queen' and was so easily deterred?" Alucard asked, now sounding vaguely amused.

"Uh, yes to the latter and no to the former," Mercedes said, discomfort growing for another reason now. "The game we play has people pick a user name, and Val was the one who talked me into joining and made the account for me. She knows about my hounds, and I knew I wanted my first character to be a druid who could summon animals, so she picked QueenBitch as my user name as a joke. I dislike being called a bitch, but she thought it'd be funny and I didn't feel like making a new account. Luke and Jan joined the old guild we were in, that guild kinda fell apart, and the four of us started a new guild with a couple of old members transferring over with us. We had already visited Luke and Jan at that point, and their club employs scantily clad vampire waitresses, so Val and Jan decided it would be funny to call the new guild 'Hell's Harem' as it contains two vampires, myself, and Val as my apprentice in magic."

"What were you and your scholar vampire friend, Luke, trading notes on during your visit?" Alucard asked, having noticed her embarrassed reaction.

"Um…" Mercedes turned away and walked into the kitchen to fetch a fresh cup of coffee. "I'd rather not discuss that."

"Would rather not, Seer, or can't?" Alucard persisted, smirk forming as he followed her.

"Would really rather not," Mercedes stated again, having a feeling he had already made the correct guess and didn't want to have to actually confirm it.

"Why is that?"

Mercedes sighed in frustration. This truly seemed to be her night for unending humiliation. "You're not going to let this drop, are you?"

"Indeed not."

"They were notes on you," Mercedes said briefly, taking the Band-aid approach of just getting it done and over with quickly. "Luke is a huge fan of yours. Not just huge, but probably one of your biggest this side of the ocean. He and I got to talking one night between some raids we were doing in game and I mentioned I was researching you for academic purposes. We ended up having a really long debate on things written, especially in regards to whether you were the original vampire or not, as there are stories of supernatural beings similar to vampires that predate you by many centuries. We ended up having several more debates and then, as he isn't allowed to leave Oklahoma, we had the visit down there to trade notes and sift through everything we had both acquired to try sorting fact from fiction."

"I see…" Mercedes didn't have to turn around to know the progenitor of vampires was grinning; his voice was filled with even greater open entertainment. "Seems a lot of trouble to go through just for the sake of research, Seer."

"I'm a history buff with vampire friends," Mercedes reiterated as she tried to keep a neutral voice so as to keep from giving the vampire more ammunition to tease her with. "Your story is quite the puzzle to try unraveling. Perhaps one of the biggest historical puzzles to occur in the last millennium. That's all there was to it, Alucard, so don't get any ideas to the contrary."

"And the compendium you tracked down for Luke was likewise about myself?"

"Yes," Mercedes said with another sigh of aggravation.

"I'm surprised you're not attempting to interview me yourself for the sake of research," Alucard said tauntingly.

"I've got other things to concentrate on right now and I've been learning enough as it is from just interacting with you," Mercedes said with a smirk forming. She glanced over her shoulder to Alucard, "But if you'd like to change your stance on making such things I learn known, your majesty, I could always conduct an interview and write a short exposé on your current interests and activities when this is all said and done."

"Don't even think about it, Seer."

.

.

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AN: I'd like to hear what everyone thought about this chapter, including the cameos. Since my last update with Chapter 10, there has been over a hundred views of the story. So let's find out what you've liked or disliked, as something keeps drawing you back. Is this keeping you highly entertained? Or is it a horrific train-wreck that you can't look away from? Who knows? I don't! So let me know. Have a safe weekend everyone!


	13. Chapter 13 Associations in Best Interest

Chapter Thirteen

Associations In One's Best Interests

Thursday morning found Alucard speeding through the shadows of skyscrapers several miles away from his hotel. The remaining evening at the human's house had gone by in mostly silent wait. Iscariot hadn't made their move and he left Mercedes an hour after dawn to take care of her son and go about her daily routine. As she didn't have work this coming evening, Alucard told her he would return to begin his rounds to watch for Iscariot a few hours after dusk as he had some business of his own, but as before he would be near enough to respond to a mental shout with relative speed should the attack come while he was gone.

Alucard was contemplating those things he intended to accomplish before the next evening began when his senses alerted him to a curious happening.

Alucard slowed his travel slightly as he made certain he was sensing what he thought he was sensing. A fairly strong vampiric presence that he didn't immediately recognize was within the hotel. Its energy was relatively subdued. Which was either an active effort on the vampire's part or a side effect of being out during daylight hours. That the vampire was even out and about during daylight hours without destroying itself in the process indicated some level of advanced powers. Even when it became clear that the other vampire likewise sensed Alucard's approach, and his awareness of its intrusion of the hotel, the vampire in the hotel did not take on a defensive projection or attempt to run.

Alucard found such brazenness both cocky and slightly offensive… and perhaps a touch admirable. He had only sensed the local vampires moving about the city on a few occasions, quickly disappearing from his range of senses after only just having entered them. They were obviously trying to avoid his attention and keeping out of his way while he was in the city for fear of him hunting them down.

'This must be the notorious Liam Sëaghdha,' Alucard thought, resuming his previous speed towards the hotel.

It wasn't hard for the king of vampires to surmise a few reasons as to what might have brought about this unannounced and uninvited visit. Alucard materialized in an empty side alley near the hotel and walked through the front doors with his normal sure and long-legged stride, sensing the other vampire waiting patiently in the lobby.

Liam wasn't hard to pick out in the expansive mostly empty lobby, especially after Alucard had seen the pictures Walter had sent. The Elder vampire of the American East Coast was sitting off to one side of the lobby on a lavish Victorian high-backed chair placed near a matching side table that held a porcelain princess-style phone reserved for guests to make or receive calls.

Liam Sëaghdha was several inches shorter than Alucard, a fact that couldn't be ascertained from pictures easily, just under six feet tall. His below-the-shoulder length brown hair gleamed slightly with unnatural golden-blonde and auburn highlights, pulled back as in his pictures in a small tail at the nape of his neck and a few strands framing his face. The aristocrat was dressed in the latest runway fashion today- an ink-black designer suit, forest green dress shirt, black silk vest with gold buttons set with emeralds, black silk tie with thin golden stripes. A single gold and emerald stud earring, his hawk-emblazoned ring, and a Movado watch were the only accessories he wore.

Liam stood with an expected inhuman grace when Alucard entered the hotel. Somewhat unexpected was that Liam gave a small refined bow to Alucard when Alucard's gaze immediately went to him.

Alucard raised an eyebrow and smirked at the deferential gesture and directed his steps towards Liam. As Liam's suit was close fitted and he wore no over jacket, Alucard could tell without making an effort that the vampire carried no weapon on him. Either the younger vampire was here simply to speak or he was so confident in his skills that he felt he would need no human-made means of attack against his elder.

As Liam rose from the brief bow, green eyes that glowed faintly like foxfire peered over dark designer glasses and met his elder's crimson fiery gaze.

"It is a rare honor, for the king of vampires to come to this country," Liam said in a smooth cultured accent that Alucard recognized immediately from overhearing him speaking with Mercedes. "My name is Liam Sëaghdha," the aristocrat pronounced the last name as 'Shay.' "As the Elder vampire with the controlling interest over our kind's activities in this country, and premier resident of the city in which you visit, I wished to extend my greetings to my grand-sire and request a few minutes of your time to speak."

Alucard's smirk remained, as did the amusement in his eyes, but it had a more malicious edge to it as Liam referred to him as 'grand-sire'. He also found it curious to note that Liam placed himself above the other vampires in this country, including the other Elders, as he was under the impression that the Elders were a collective of leaders.

Liam noted the shift in expression, and when it occurred.

"I was not meaning to make an offensive comment of your age nor sound overly familiar. My creator was the Lady Alannah, who was once a bride of yours," Liam clarified. He gave a slight smile of his own then, but his was distinctly rueful, "I hope such knowledge will not place me in your ill-favor, as I am not quite as my creator was."

Alucard nodded once, remembering the noble woman he had taken as a companion for a few short decades before having a rather memorable parting of ways. Somehow, it didn't surprise Alucard that she would be the one to create a vampire with Liam's reputation. The information helped to pinpoint Liam's age, which was currently unknown.

Alannah had been a pretty young woman from a minor house. A bit spoiled, but most noble women of that time (just as today) were. Alucard had thought Alannah had enough endearing qualities that he could overlook that trait, thinking she'd grow out of it with time and maturity. His patience for such things was admittedly much higher in those days. Instead, Alannah had steadily become even more high-maintenance in her decadent demands. More so than any of his other demanding companions at the time. Alucard eventually found her previously endearing traits not worth-while in comparison to accommodating her selfishness. As she otherwise obeyed basic guidelines Alucard had set for those vampires he personally created, he had allowed Alannah to simply leave when she once more threatened to if she didn't get what she wanted and told her to find her fortune elsewhere as she was never satisfied.

That was at the close of the 1600s. Alucard heard the details of Alannah's predictable death in the first half of the 1700s. Her showy privileged lifestyle exponentially increased, as did the means she took to gain the ability to have such lifestyle, once free of his watch and, less than fifty years later, drew attention from vampire hunters. Purportedly a younger incarnation of Iscariot, in fact.

At least Liam wasn't reported to be quite as flashy as Alannah about his vampiric nature and had presumably learned something from her shortcomings as he had survived the last three-hundred years or so.

Alucard hadn't expected Liam to be quite that old, nor so directly descended from his own blood, but even that age was still only half as many years as the progenitor of vampires had lived and rendered Liam only a minimal to moderate threat. The Vampire King could smell and sense, now that his attention was brought to it, the familiar scent of his own bloodline coming from this younger vampire. If Liam was more than a few generations removed from his blood, said scent and presence of his blood would be much weaker. Most vampires these days barely registered to his senses as being of his blood, being so far removed from those vampires he had once created in greater numbers. Which made it very likely that Liam was in fact created by a vampire that Alucard had personally created.

That was mildly intriguing, as Alucard had been under the impression those so closely connected to his blood had been wiped out by Hellsing when he had been first captured, or by Iscariot immediately after his imprisonment began. At least, Abraham had been certain that they and the Catholics had managed to eradicate all his immediate vampiric descendants. Alucard had had doubts that they could have truly tracked down and killed every one of them, but for a century he had encountered only vampires with small traces of his blood running through their veins.

Alucard hadn't made any new vampires until he had escaped Hellsing control just over a decade ago, and those he had made came to a grand total of two, which allowed him to keep track of their activities and where his bloodline might end up. Those two had yet to be permitted to create any fledglings of their own as Alucard didn't wish to deal with increased hostilities with certain organizations that wanted his blood to remain out of the veins of humans. His life was much simpler keeping those people pacified.

But low and behold, here was not-so-living proof that his bloodline tended to be resilient. Integra would probably shit kittens if she found out that one of the best known members of the 'pretentious faux-aristocracy of American vampires' (as she had called the Elders on a few occasions, and commenting that she was glad to let other agencies deal with America's vampire problem,) was a vampire not too far removed from Alucard's blood that her beloved ancestor and Iscariot had missed in their eradication efforts a hundred years ago. That thought almost (but not quite) brought a smile to the Vampire King's face, as Hellsing and Iscariot always did overestimate themselves and most any chance to point out a failure of theirs was welcome.

Alucard commented on none of this as his mind quickly worked out a rough guess of Liam's age, weighed it with Liam's claim of bloodline, and matched it with other things he had heard of the vampire. The process of thoughts took approximately five seconds to complete, as various parts of his mind had processed and calculated the separate lines of information simultaneously- one bringing up Alannah's history and matching it to what was known of Liam, one ascertaining the level of his blood running through the vampire before him, and a sarcastic part making comments to himself while the others sped their way through. Let it never be said that his brain was a slow or silent place to be.

"And what do you wish to speak of, besides extending a greeting in person?" Alucard asked, cutting through possibly endless formalities and small talk that he was not in the mood for to get to the real reason Liam was here. Closer connection than most to his blood or not, he still had little patience for pandering and posturing and the younger vampire had better not be wasting his time.

Liam gave a pointed glance around the lobby before returning his gaze to Alucard.

"If we may speak somewhere that allows a bit more privacy?" Liam requested. "It would be unseemly for the more, mundane, guests of the hotel to overhear our conversation and it is becoming a time when the lobby will be more active."

Alucard raised an eyebrow at the vampire's temerity to invite himself into his elder's hotel room. But he did also privately concede that it was either that or telling Liam to go running back to whatever abode he resided in so he could rest for a few hours. Given the most likely theorized reason for this visit, something pertaining to the human Liam socialized with and that Alucard had been in contact with, Alucard decided he could spare a few minutes of his time. He may find out something useful about Mercedes to help connect the pieces of this puzzle with Iscariot together. And if it was not about the human, perhaps Liam came to speak of Iscariot itself. As the Elder vampire who had introduced himself as having claims to the vampiric interests in this country, and specifically this city, Liam should have picked up signs of Iscariot's activity by now and may have come to exchange intelligence against a common enemy.

"I suppose this conversation can be held elsewhere," Alucard replied. He turned towards the elevators and added over his shoulder, "I expect this to be brief and worth my time. I do have other matters to attend to besides socializing."

"As you say, Grand-sire," Liam replied, following behind.

Alucard's teeth gritted together for a brief second at being addressed in such fashion again, but held his temper as he could only assume such was considered a common means of address in this country among vampires who shared blood. Fucking irritating though, as he had never met this vampire before five minutes ago and didn't appreciate the over familiarity.

As the two vampires took the elevator to the top floor where Alucard's suite was, Liam was discreetly inspecting his elder in passing curiosity. At least, Alucard assumed Liam thought he was being discreet. Alucard didn't need to look in Liam's direction to be aware of the attention.

Alucard led the other vampire to the door of the suite, opened it with the electronic key card, and walked through first, not bothering to hold the door open for Liam. Liam stepped into the suite and closed the door for himself, not appearing offended. Alucard removed his hat and glasses, tossing the latter in the former, as he turned around to face the younger vampire. Without bothering to look in the direction, a careless flick of the wrist sent both landing on the exact center of a small side table located across the sitting room between two chairs. He could have simply made them both disappear as they were extensions of his will, but the progenitor of vampires was giving a free, small demonstration of his aim for the younger vampire who insisted on this meeting.

Alucard asked with just a hint of impatience leaking through, "The reason for this visit of yours, boy?"

Liam removed his sunglasses and tucked them into the breast pocket of his jacket. He said pleasantly, "Very well, you did say to keep this brief."

He had called Alucard 'grand-sire' twice now, so being called 'boy' in return, even at his age, was apparently not a slight worth becoming upset over. Alucard noted that Liam kept his stance relaxed and crossed one hand over the other in front of himself as he met his elder's crimson gaze without reservation.

"Besides wishing to extend a greeting to the legendary father of our kind, I did have another reason for seeking you out. I say the following not out of desire to provoke hostility, but to simply make you aware of a breech in boundaries. It was brought to my attention that in the short time that you have been within the limits of my city you have twice been in contact with a young human lady who, along with her child, is under the grace of my protection. Any vampire within several hundred miles of this city knows that Ms. Mercedes Dreux-Brézé and her son are not to be harmed in any fashion. As you are not from this country, and therefore would not be likely to have such knowledge, I am formally and personally making you aware of that fact now.

"I was made aware that you aided her with disposing of a group of human attackers in the early hours of Monday morning, for which you have my gratitude. But I was also made aware that you then attacked her physically and made threats to her well-being. Then the following evening you went to her place of employment and gave her little choice in speaking with you, indicating that a refusal to do so could end in harm to her once more. While I appreciate that no harm did come to her after that conversation and escorted walk home, and that you have kept to your word of leaving her in peace, I would like it to be made clear that there will continue to be no further contact between you and Ms. Dreux-Brézé, as she is a woman who does not need or deserve to be harassed further in any such fashion."

Alucard's smirk was back at full malicious force at the younger vampire's bold declaration. He casually crossed his arms in front of his chest and an eyebrow raised beneath his shaggy black bangs in amusement. Looking down at Liam, from both his greater height and from a mental standpoint, he asked, "Is that so?"

"Quite." Liam's tone remained agreeable and he didn't seem to feel threatened, but there was a sharp glint creeping into his eyes upon hearing Alucard's flippant tone and seeing that expression. "The lady in question is not to be subjected to harassment again. Nor will a refusal to abide by that be tolerated. There are hundreds of thousands of human women for you to hunt or seduce in this city, and you are expressly welcome to as many as are necessary to satiate your needs while you are here for whatever purpose, so long as you do so discreetly. But Ms. Dreux-Brézé is not available for any of your attentions."

"With such a wide range of humans within this city as you admit to having, why is it that this individual one is being given such attention from you?" Alucard asked. "It's very foolish for you- no, suicidal, even as an Elder vampire of some three-hundred years,- to seek me out and make such an edict that could in fact bring about my displeasure. And all for the sake of one human woman."

Liam's eyes narrowed slightly at the open threat, but that was the only outward display of anger he showed. "My reasons for granting protection to her, and by extension her child, are my own to keep. All you need know is that she has been under my protection for some years now and that is not going to waiver simply because a threat to her well-being is above the normal in its ability to be a threat."

"When I've observed Mercedes, I've happened to note she bore no mark claiming her as a vampire's human," Alucard said with mocking seriousness. "Nor does she seem to have a tattoo across her forehead labeling her as your property. She also did not attempt to use a claim as belonging to another vampire as protection from me draining her when I came upon her in the alley or had the conversation with her the next night. So what claim do you really have to her, boy-overlord?"

"Only those insecure in their positions need resort to such measures as marking," Liam retorted sharply, causing Alucard's amusement to raise as the younger vampire had entirely missed his sarcasm. "I would not denigrate such a woman as Mercedes by marring her body, especially not when my orders that she is not to come to any harm is all that is needed to keep her safe."

"Hm…" Alucard's smirk became all the more disdainful. "As you kept her safe Monday morning?"

The irises of Liam's eyes went from the faint glow of foxfire to a green blaze like driftwood burning as his anger increased. "She was capable of handling her original attackers, as she is with any human attackers. She even managed to escape you. I have seen to it that no other vampire in this country would dare lay so much as a finger on her or her son. If need be, the lesson that no one is permitted to cause harm to those under my protection can be extended further."

Alucard noticed that Liam did not address Mercedes's unwillingness to rely on his offer of protection to aid her in difficult positions. "You seem to be becoming upset, boy-overlord. Tell me, are your reasons for offering such protection because of the rare psychic and magical gifts that Mercedes has, which you're aware I became aware of, that no other human woman in this city likely possesses? Is this to keep a useful servant to your own aims? Or is this protection of a more personal nature, given her equally eye-catching physical gifts, and you are covetously wishing to keep such pleasures to yourself?"

"As I said," Liam's cultured voice took on a clipped tone in response to Alucard's tone becoming blatantly insinuating, "my reasons are my own. Any gifts the lady has, of any nature, are not open for any to have from her and I will not tolerate anyone attempting to bring harm to those under my protection."

"And, do tell, boy," Alucard said with no shortage of derisive tones. Liam's swaggering territorial behavior was providing him with enough entertainment to partially make up for the dullness of Iscariot staying hidden like cockroaches. "Should I decide not to comply with this request of yours, what do you think you are capable of doing to enforce it?"

"Draw so much as a single drop of blood from her or her son, Alucard, or bring her so much as another minute of upset, and I swear you shall find that out," Liam stated icily. His anger radiating out likewise caused the room's temperature to decrease several degrees.

"And should Mercedes be the one seek me out?" Alucard was grinning now, razor sharp teeth exposed.

"A woman like Mercedes has no reason to seek one such as you out, Grand-sire," Liam spoke the term sarcastically as he glanced over Alucard again as though sizing him up. "She is courageous, gifted, kind-hearted. She is a loyal friend to those she deems worthy of her trust and a devoted mother as none other to her son. She is far too good, on many levels, for the likes of you and is more than intelligent enough to know what associations would bring her harm and which would be in her best interest."

"Seems you feel you have the woman entirely figured out, boy-overlord." Alucard gave a mordant chuckle. "And it seems you think you know me well enough to issue such comments. Though, if you did truly understand who you were speaking to, a wise Elder would know that, regardless of a connection by blood, such should not be said."

The progenitor of vampires was viciously fighting off the engrained urge to illuminate the whelp in front of him as to what sort of dangerous game he was playing. Alucard managed to restrain himself on the grounds of not wanting to risk something interfering with his plans. He was business focused enough to know that anything drastic happening before Iscariot's attack could accidentally trigger some unforeseen consequence that would change the way Mercedes's vision had played out.

The rational side of Alucard's mind pointed out to him one such change might be triggered with him being engaged in a battle between vampires, even a punk like Liam, that would alert Iscariot to their exact location. Upon which, they could then make a move to likewise fight him, or use the opening of the two most powerful vampires in the city being occupied fighting with one another and move early to kill the humans. The latter would lead to him possibly missing the attack on the humans depending on how much of a challenge the whelp in front of him actually was, the humans' deaths ensuing, losing a chance to get his hands on the Iscariot operatives, and maybe a chance to kill Anderson once and for all.

That grudge against Anderson was far more longstanding and Alucard was not going to lose a chance to put the church's dog down. But Alucard was now looking forward to making Liam eat more than just his pompous words once this immediate situation with Iscariot came to resolution. Ideas of many natures were forming on how he'd end this cocky vampire's existence with a great deal of prolonged pain involved, even if such entertainment need be deferred for the time being.

"I know Mercedes well enough to know what sort of woman she is. I am also well aware who you are and I hear a great many things about what you are capable of," Liam replied with unwavering certainty. "I have been around long enough to know it is foolish to underestimate the father of all vampires. But I am not without my own power, resources and servants after living as long as I have. Nor am I the only Elder who considers Ms. Dreux-Brézé's wellbeing a matter of interest. There are very good reasons why I did not confront this matter the very same evening I found out you caused harm to the lady and threatened worse."

"Oh? Enlighten me?" Alucard asked sarcastically. "What sort of trouble will I be in should I not heed the warning of the blustering American Elders and decide to act on my threats of worse?"

"Enough binding enchantments cast in proper order brought you to heel once. There are those in my, and my associates', employ capable of performing those and worse." Liam knew Alucard was baiting him and he didn't care. He wanted his elder to understand that he was deadly serious about this threat. The green fire that burned in Liam's eyes was shifting to a brass-like orange-green as his anger flared yet higher and the glamour that the Elder used to have a more human-like eye color faded. "And we will not make the same errors Hellsing made of attempting to give you freedom to run around on a leash. You are being given fair warning to keep your distance from Ms. Dreux-Brézé. Pursue other women for whatever your prodigious needs are or, I promise you, you will spend the rest of your existence looking over your shoulder because the first time you let your guard down you will be brought to a punishment that will make your past imprisonments look like a warm fuzzy memory. Come near the lady or her son, we will collectively ensure that you remain neutralized and in a state of perpetual torment, the likes of which even you have not witnessed, that will teach you what damned earth-bound suffering truly is and how blessed you have been before now, that will last from the moment you cross the line until you finally cease to exist."

"That, boy, sounds like a challenge to look forward to," Alucard said with a feral grin, dark snarling shadows gathering around the vampire. Dozens of blood red eyes, flickering with hellfire, stared out from the ominous shadows at the single target in the room. "Are you sure you're not trying to bait me into a fight? I haven't had a good bloodshed against other true vampires in decades. If all it would take is killing two trifling humans to have a bit of entertainment, you're making things all the more tempting."

"You may be the king of vampires, Alucard," Liam said with barely restrained rage of his own, his gaze cautiously darting to the energy being summoned, "but there are enough Elder vampires still walking this earth and gathered in this country that we can collectively tear you off your dark throne if we decide to. You incite bloodshed wherever you travel and you kill your own kind if they do not fit into whatever standards you have made up in that psychotic head of yours. Touch the lady or her son and it will be the last straw. Even you can be overwhelmed."

Alucard made a show of letting out a large yawn. Teeth began flashing in the shadows around him, the outlines of canine heads stretching out towards Liam. The younger vampire eyed the hell hounds warily but held his ground with clenched teeth.

"I said to keep this brief." Alucard's voice was immeasurably bored. One of the demon dog's front paws emerged and the hound snapped furiously to be allowed release. "You've given your message. Now run along pretentious boy-overlord, like a good child, before I decide to have myself a meal before I go to sleep."

Liam's eyes narrowed at the flippant dismissal. "Whatever your business here, stay away from Ms. Dreux-Brézé and her son and be out of my city by the weekend's conclusion. Otherwise, Monday at dawn you can begin the start of an eternity of looking over your shoulder."

The aristocrat turned on his heel sharply and made to leave the room. The door refused to open when Liam tried to turn the knob.

"Boy-lord," Alucard's words rumbled in one last provoking comment to Liam's retreating back, causing the younger vampire to stiffen in fury and glance over his shoulder to his Elder. "Spend more time concerned with what is happening within your piddling territory and less time plotting trivial challenges over women. The likes of you will never tear me off my throne. Attempting to do so while neglecting what you claim is yours will lead to your ruin and provide me with no shortage of entertainment as I watch you fall from the self-aggrandizing pedestal you've erected here."

The door flew open with the end of Alucard's words, nearly slamming into Liam's face, who managed to step back just quick enough to avoid a broken nose.

The American Elder faced Alucard again, and the glamour on his eyes was allowed to fade entirely. The irises of the Elder vampire's eyes were a golden-crimson blaze and those eyes met his grand-sire's without a sliver of fear. Liam gave an icy smirk as he saw Alucard's gaze focus a moment on his eyes, note the unique coloring, and an eyebrow raised slightly.

"You have been warned, Alucard. Do not underestimate myself or my threat, as I assure you I have cause enough as it stands to want to end you and skills that you have not seen before to make that potentially come about. Even without the aid of the other Elders, I will undertake whatever is necessary to destroy you should you cross a line. Stay away from Ms. Dreux-Brézé and her son, be out of my city by Monday at dawn, and never step foot in my country again, or you will discover how I have kept uncontested control over this country for two and a half centuries." And with that, Liam stormed out of the room, containing his anger enough not to slam the door. At least, not so hard as to crack or shatter it.

Alucard could sense Liam going downstairs by elevator so as not to simply disappear by human notice. Once outside, Liam went to the same alley Alucard had been in and shifted into the form of a hawk. Liam flew off past Alucard's hotel windows with a warning screech of rage.

Alucard smirked and shook his head. A night-dwelling falcon like an owl, he might have been able to not scoff at. But a hawk? They were useful creatures to humans, but not a fit form for those who walk the night. Liam seemed to put a great deal of energy in trying to fit into a human life, as with his outfits and the glamour to change his eye color to green, or the galas he attended that were fashioned to seem as human-like as possible, and blithely glossed over his vampiric nature by expressing it in less traditional means. That was almost as unforgivable as those who had no idea what potential their vampiric nature held and acted like reckless fools, slaughtering everything they could in a sad attempt to prove they were monsters to be feared.

It irritated Alucard to no end that vampires these days seemed to be so incapable of finding the right balance between respect for the humans that were needed for vampires to feed and embracing their own dark natures to grow into forces to be reckoned with.

'After I finish with Iscariot, Liam,' Alucard thought to himself with no shortage of malevolent anticipation, 'I am going to rip your arrogant hide from the skies and teach you exactly what it means to become the focal point of my hellish wrath. I don't care what little tricks you have that you think might be a match for me, how you glamour your eyes to try to seem more intimidating, you have no idea what I am truly capable of. You are going to learn firsthand what true eternal torment really entails. And if you do have any little 'associates' waiting in the wings, thinking they might take a shot at killing me, the bastards are welcome to try. I will annihilate all who step forward as it seems you brash little fledglings have forgotten respect for your creator and think you can so brazenly challenge me and then walk away unscathed. The likes of you will never be enough to end my existence.'

Alucard's crimson jacket disappeared from his body and he gave a leisurely stretch though his undead body didn't get cramps. He went to the bedroom and pulled his coffin out from beneath the raised bed. He tucked the envelope Mercedes had entrusted to him in one corner for safe keeping. Keeping it on his person could lead to bullet holes and enemy blood, which was not likely to keep whatever was penned inside legible. Not that he had any intention of it becoming necessary to deliver said letter, but still, accidents could happen when Anderson was involved and Mercedes didn't have the advantage of being able to rapidly regenerate like he and his servants did.

Alucard laid down to take a nap, more to pass a few hours before leaving for his own side endeavors than because of any need as he had hardly expended any energy this evening.

'The posturing whelp didn't reveal anything I didn't already know about the human,' Alucard thought to himself. 'Tonight I think I will see if Mercedes will be explanatory with her connections to the local vampires. Even if it doesn't lead to some connection of why Iscariot is targeting her, it would help pass the wait for the Catholic rats to show. It'd be intriguing to hear how a woman who seems to mostly shun superficial aristocratic trappings has made acquaintance and kept ties with one such as Liam. Though she appears to view him as a friend, it is rather clear after that territorial pissing match that his intentions towards her are not simply those of a protective guardian.'

Alucard thought of Mercedes's comment of it was better to work against Iscariot with the blood-thirsty vampire rather than a 'fey-with-fangs'. Alucard's menacing chuckles to himself resounded in the darkness of his coffin, thinking of Liam's highlighted hair and fashion magazine appearance, showing up to confront the Vampire King without so much as a weapon to defend himself in assumption his status would keep him safe. Perhaps that explained why Mercedes was willing to heed his instruction about not alerting others to the impending situation with Iscariot even though she did know other vampires.

'Liam is right about one thing,' Alucard thought. His chuckles became unhindered laughter, highly entertained by the irony of the younger vampire's declarations. 'She's courageous enough to stand and fight, and wise enough to know which associations are in her and her son's best interest for immediate survival."

Alucard's thoughts alternated between the situation with Iscariot and the human involved in the situation until he finally drifted off to sleep.

As happened on occasion, the progenitor of vampires dreamt. But his dreams were pleasant ones for a change, not bitter memories of the past. They were of a nature he had not expected as he had not had such in some time and therefore, enjoyable as they were, his sleep was not as restful as it should have been.

Alucard dreamt of the spirited human in an elegant gown a bit more old fashioned than those he had seen her wearing in pictures. It was a gown from his memories, just as he was wearing a formal uniform from the past. She was being undressed by himself amidst a flurry of heated kisses, passionate nips at her neck, and mutual caresses exploring every inch of the other. Mercedes's lithe and softly curved body was soon laid bare and entwined with his on a bed he hadn't laid on in over half a millennium. She writhed beneath the vampire in ecstasy, with similar sensuous movements he had on a few occasions caught her dancing with while at her work, as he drove himself into her at an impassioned pace. Alucard reveled in the heat of the beautiful young human woman enwrapped around him and providing temporary warmth to his chill flesh. His ageless mind easily supplied the memory of Mercedes's intriguing scent to the dream, altering it to reflect arousal as well, making the dream seem all the more realistic.

Alucard dreamt of sweeping long dark hair from her smooth pale neck, fingers of one hand twining near the roots of the silken locks and gently pulling her head back. Mercedes's rosy lips, fuller and darker-rouged from his ravenous kisses, parted and her breathy voice moaned his name, his true name, in pleasure as she met him thrust for thrust with a desire that matched his own.

The Vampire King dreamt of trailing kisses down the heiress's neck, such a fragile and long neck with plenty of places to bestow those kisses, as his other hand trailed caresses over every inch of her full breasts and tightened nipples, wringing increasingly amorous calls of his name from her as her body began to tremble on the brink of an orgasm. He relentlessly drew Mercedes closer to that edge with faster, deeper thrusts and more nips to the sensitive skin along her clavicle and at the base of her throat. When she climaxed, warm inner muscles tightening around his shaft in the most pleasurable of ways, Alucard's sharp canines sank into the delicate flesh of her neck. Her words became inarticulate moans of bliss as his power washed over her and held her in thrall. Moans that nearly drowned out his own deep groan of satisfaction as he finally had a taste of her alluring blood while his other more deeply suppressed hunger continued to find fulfillment from the carnal offerings the rest of her luscious body provided.

.

.

.

Mercedes spent the morning performing her usual routine with Xander, then went out for a short while to the local strip mall to do some grocery shopping and pick up a few items they needed for around the apartment. The local bootleg movie guys selling their wares outside the store in between offering people legal taxi rides waylaid Mercedes and Xander for a few minutes. They had new movies in stock for both, as the small family was frequent customers and the bootleggers knew their tastes in movies. Gaining several new movies that were burned at high def quality, and tucking them discreetly into a shopping bag, mother and child headed home.

When they got home, Xander grabbed the practice kendo swords from the closet in his bedroom, the wood wrapped in protective foam to keep from injuries, and asked to practice. Mercedes agreed with a smile and spent half an hour giving him his lessons before the child lost interest in sword fighting and asked to watch one of his new movies. While he was occupied with a dvd that had three movies that were still in theaters on one disc, Mercedes made up a quick lunch for the boy and then went to the bedroom to try taking a nap.

Mercedes was feeling exhausted with as little sleep as she had gotten all week and reasoned that it would be safe to take that nap in the middle of the day as Iscariot wasn't supposed to attack until an evening was ending and dawn was beginning. Even with that knowledge, she still hid a couple daggers on her person and slipped her katana from the closet to the bed. Mercedes also sent Shadowsnake to keep hidden watch once more and summoned her hound Artemis to stay quietly by the bed so Xander wouldn't see her right now and wonder why the demonic familiar was out in broad daylight. Despite keeping the hell hound hidden from her son, Mercedes gave Artemis the orders to protect Xander should Iscariot attempt to force entrance into the apartment.

Unfortunately, even with those precautions and her exhaustion, every time Mercedes closed her eyes the memory of her vision returned full force. A warning of what was to come, that would not stop haunting her until the situation was played out one way or other.

After almost an hour of restless tossing and turning, Mercedes gave any amount of sleep up as a lost cause. She sent Artemis away for the time being, called Shadowsnake down from his perch within the roof, and returned her blades back to their spots in the closet.

As Xander was still occupied with his movie marathon, Mercedes spent the remaining time of a full movie quietly finishing the task she had set herself of altering one of her enchantments to hopefully be of more use. It had proved more difficult than she had thought it would be and she hadn't been able to complete the project the last few nights in between taking care of Xander and work. Mercedes did finally finish it though, so at least that was one less thing for the stressed mother to worry about.

Mercedes spent the next few hours before dinner time playing board games with her son. They ate dinner together, read a compilation of Calvin and Hobbes comics, Xander took a bath and then Mercedes put the boy to bed.

Mercedes went outside to have a cigarette an hour before dusk, shortly after 7pm in the evening, and successfully finished the Sudoku puzzle before her cigarette was done.

She was taking the last few drags of her cigarette when her neighbor and friend, Geoffrey, Geo to most, came up the walkway. He was dressed in his nurse's scrubs, windbreaker tied to a strap of his backpack and dragging slightly on the ground behind him.

Geo looked as exhausted as Mercedes felt- his salt and pepper hair, usually well groomed, was tousled and messy, dark circles were forming under his bloodshot eyes, and he wasn't even bothering to expend the energy to lift up his backpack to avoid damage to the designer jacket.

"Hey, Geo!" Mercedes said in surprise. "Fancy seeing you before the sun goes down, hun!"

The later-middle aged man glanced up and gave a wide smile that looked more than a bit weary.

"Mercedes, hey! I know right?" Geo replied in good humor despite his exhaustion. "Haven't seen you in a few weeks."

"Been insanely busy between little one, work and life in general," Mercedes replied with a roll of her eyes.

"I hear ya, sweetie. Devil in heels has been making me work doubles again while she's off at Foxwood for the week," Geo said with no shortage of aggrieved tones. He gestured up to the porch that was on the second floor of the apartment building. The railed in space had a small wrought iron table and two matching chairs. A potted plant and ash tray sat on the table, and potted plants hung from the ceiling and planters attached to the railing. "I'm going to be crashing soon cuz I've got a morning shift tomorrow and then errands to run before Felix comes over for the weekend, but want to come up to the Time Warp Zone for a glass of wine and a little catching up?"

Mercedes considered it, glancing at her phone's clock, and realized she had more than enough time to visit before Alucard would be showing up. She also decided she could use a bit of normalcy for a short while and nodded to the invitation.

"You know what, hun? That sounds like a great idea," Mercedes said with a smile. "Let me go grab my pack as I only brought out the one cig and I'll meet you up there."

"Sounds good. Gives me a chance to drop this shit on the couch and pop open a bottle," Geo said as Mercedes unlocked the front door and they went into the hallway of the building. "You in the mood for Pinot Noir or Brazilian red?"

"Let's go with the Brazilian," Mercedes said with a grin. "That wine may not have a proper classification, but it tastes like a slice of paradise."

Geo chuckled and nodded his agreement. "Felix may be a bit of a kid, but that boy knows how to pick a wine. Alright sweetie, I'll see ya in five."

"See you in five, Geo," Mercedes agreed.

She went back to her apartment and once more hid a few knives on herself. As Xander was asleep, she summoned up all four hell hounds to keep watch on the boy from the vantage point of the living room. She would be able to see Iscariot driving up from her seat on the porch and could be down the stairs to head them off before they even reached the front door, so she judged it safe enough to allow herself a little break from reality when it was still a relatively safe time in the early evening to do so. Geo and herself, and Felix when he was over, often spent a great deal of time on the porch talking after Xander had gone to sleep if they had the night off or time between then and work, so it would appear just business-as-usual if Iscariot was observing her.

When Mercedes went up to the porch she found Geo waiting with the promised glasses of wine. The bottle was on the table for refills and he already had his own cigarette lit. Mercedes sat down on the chair opposite her friend and likewise lit another cigarette.

"So how are you holding up?" Geo asked after a few sips of wine. "Last time I saw you, you were a bit down. I've been worried seen as where we haven't had a chance to catch up since then."

Mercedes didn't answer immediately, taking a sip of her own wine and remembering that last conversation about the anniversary of her mother's suicide. With everything that had been happening this week, it seemed like an age ago.

Finally Mercedes shrugged and took a drag off her cigarette before answering. "I'm hanging in there as best as can be expected. June seems to be an unlucky month for me, but I'm surviving it so far."

"Well, at least there's only a few days left to the month," Geo said with a sympathetic smile. "Pretty soon we'll be into July. Then its fireworks and drinks and barbeque time!"

"Indeed!" Mercedes said, thankful Geo wasn't the type to pry further beyond a concerned follow up. "We're still on for those 4th of July plans at the park? I was able to get the first half of the night off from work and Val said she'd be out of the bakery in time to make it over for dinner."

" _Si, senorita_ ," Geo said with a cheerful grin. "Felix even picked up some new Super Soakers for some water fun and cooling off before the fireworks start."

"Oh gods," Mercedes said with an amused shake of her head. "Xander is going to be thrilled with those."

"Xander? I'm going to be thrilled to see Felix running around half nekkid in his shorts and dripping in water," Geo said with wink.

Mercedes laughed for several seconds at that.

"So I take it the test results finally came back?" Mercedes asked, hoping the answer was yes and good news from Geo's upbeat attitude.

"Yeah, thankfully," Geo said a bit more seriously. "His doctors said earlier this week that the last scans came back negative for the cancer returning, so he's been feeling a weight off his shoulders even if he is still a bit run down from treatments."

"Give him a few more months and he'll be back to normal, hun," Mercedes said with an encouraging smile. "I'm glad to hear that his tests came back negative. Was just the sort of news I could use tonight."

"You and me both, sweetie," Geo said with a nod. "I think the only good thing that came out of Felix having to battle with cancer like he has the last year and a half was it landed him in my ward and gave me a chance to meet him."

"I'll drink to that," Mercedes lifted her glass and clinked it with Geo's, both taking a sip of their wine. "Even with the stress of Felix being sick, you've been happier this last year than you were the first year I knew you. I'd have hated to see a return of grumpy Geo."

"That boy drives me up a wall sometimes," Geo said with a laugh, "but he also dragged me out of the all-work, no-play funk I was in since Lou died and I'm glad it's looking like I won't have to go through that again in the near future." Geo got a mischievous look on his face, eyes crinkling at the corners as he gave a grin. "I was actually thinking that the 4th would be a good day to celebrate Felix being free of cancer and declaring to him that I would like to officially take things to the next level."

Mercedes's eyes got wide in surprise and she returned Geo's grin. "You're going to propose?"

Geo nodded.

Mercedes couldn't help it, she let out a stereotypical girly-squeal of excitement at the news. "That's amazing! I'm so glad to hear it!"

"Well don't go congratulating me yet," Geo said a little nervously. "I haven't asked yet, and Felix hasn't said yes."

Mercedes's wine glass paused halfway to her lips as she felt a response push at her to be said. Her smile grew all the wider and she gave Geo a wink. "Hunny, you don't have to worry about Felix saying no," the seer said with certainty. "You two have been damn near inseparable and he's going to say yes."

Geo gave her a surprised but relieved look. "You really think so?"

" _Oui_ , I really do," Mercedes said with a nod, taking the sip of wine.

"Given how often your intuition proves right, I think I'll let you get my hopes up for the moment," Geo said in good humor. "If he does, I was hoping I could convince you to extend your ministry expertise for the ceremony? You've been supportive of us working through the stressful spots and helping me get over some of those fears lingering since Lou. I can't think of another person I'd prefer officiating and it would certainly be better than some random JP."

"Of course! I would be honored!" Mercedes said sincerely, grinning ear to ear now.

Geo returned the Cheshire cat grin and poured himself another glass of wine. He offered a refill to Mercedes as she only had a few sips left in her glass. She shook her head.

"I'm good with one, hun. I am expecting company tonight and would prefer not to be tipsy," Mercedes said, giving the explanation as they usually finished a bottle together.

"Ohhh, company you say?" Geo asked teasingly with a raised eyebrow. "Is this the same deep-voiced company I may have heard speaking and making you laugh while passing your apartment on my way in from work last night?"

Mercedes blushed in embarrassment from his tone of voice even as she wondered if Geo had actually overheard any of the contents of the conversation. She guessed not, as Geo was teasing rather than asking about the dark or supernatural contents of a large portion of the conversations that had taken place last night.

"It is the same company," Mercedes conceded. "And before you pull a CJ, I'll have you know that it's not anything of that nature. He's just an acquaintance who is in town for a short while."

Geo audibly scoffed at that. "Mhm, an acquaintance who was at your place in the middle of the night," the nurse said with no short amount of disbelief at her protests.

"Just an acquaintance," Mercedes repeated.

"Hm… And does this acquaintance have a name?" Geo prodded.

"He does," Mercedes said. "And I'm not telling you. It doesn't matter. He's only in town a few days and then he'll be gone."

"Really? Well it seems you're making the most of his company while he's here," Geo said with a playful wink.

" _Par les dieux_!" Mercedes said in exasperation, inadvertently causing Geo to snicker at the exclamation. "You're as bad as Val, CJ and Tony!"

"Well perhaps you should wonder why we're all on your case, rather than getting upset with us for it," Geo said with a wink.

Mercedes shook her head in frustration.

"So what does this late-night acquaintance look like, if you won't tell me his name?"

"If I'm saying his name doesn't matter, what makes you think his appearance does?"

"Hm…" Geo said contemplatively. "From that deep voice of his, I'm guessing tall."

"He is tall," Mercedes conceded with resignation. Geo may not be one to press too hard on a sensitive subject involving family tragedy, but he was an absolute yenta with his friends.

"Foreign accent. Though I only heard muffled tones, it sounded like a strange combination of British and some eastern European country like Hungary," Geo continued his assessment. When Geo's husband had been alive, they had spent many years living all over Europe, so he was fairly good at placing accents.

"Originally from Romania, but he lives in England now."

"Oooo, Romanian," Geo said with interest. "They have the lovely dark features Lou loved."

Mercedes snorted back a laugh in response.

"So tall, dark… good looking?" Geo prodded.

"I haven't really noticed one way or other," Mercedes replied neutrally. "Though he did have CJ checking him out at the bar."

"CJ has an eye for the good looking ones," Geo said matter-of-factly. "So I'll take that as a resounding 'Yes'. So we've got tall, dark and handsome with a rather sexy accent at your apartment late at night and you're telling me you have no interest in taking advantage of that while you've got him available?"

"Nope, none whatsoever," Mercedes stated assuredly. "Just an acquaintance."

Geo shook his head in frustration at her attitude. "Sweetie, what are we going to do with you?"

"Hug me, kiss me, love me," Mercedes quipped with an attempt at a bright smile.

"I can do all that, and gladly," Geo said between chuckles, "but you need it on a whole different level from someone who isn't gay."

Mercedes rolled her eyes, feeling her pleasant mood ebbing. "My life has way too many problems as it is," she stated dismissively. "I don't need to go heaping more onto it with attempts at dating."

"Date him, lay him, either works." Geo continued, ignoring Mercedes's horrified and indignant look, "But you're starting to fall into the same funk I was in and you could use something to pull you out before you get too deep."

"I'm not in a funk!" Mercedes protested, weary of having these conversations multiple times a week, every week, from various angles. "I am content to leave things as they are in the relationship department so I can keep up with the rest of my life. Why is it so socially unacceptable for a woman who's been single for more than a month or two to not go chasing after someone, but instead be content with her own company? Really? And even were I inclined to try changing the status quo, said acquaintance is not the sort of man I would have a tryst with. That's not the sort of interactions we have."

"Then what sort of interactions do you have?" Geo asked seriously, undeterred by the rant.

Mercedes held back the sarcastic desire to give the wholly honest answer. She resisted because Geo was a human friend with no knowledge of vampires or other related issues and she wasn't about to spring that on him. Especially not after he had just gotten home from a long day at work and was already on a second glass of wine.

Mercedes sighed in frustration and lit another cigarette, stalling for time so she could think of a truthful answer without revealing anything detrimental to Geo's knowledge of the world.

"When we're not concentrated on business, we argue a lot with each other because he's insufferably arrogant with eighty-percent of what comes out of his mouth or because he finds some way to pick at me over something," Mercedes finally said. "When we're not arguing, we can get along well enough for a decent conversation. We definitely have different ways of looking at the world and situations, but we can find enough common ground, or enough of a seeming respect for the other if we disagree, that we're able to exchange ideas and thoughts and work together."

"Doesn't sound so bad," Geo said contemplatively. "Sounds like if you could find some more common ground, the sniping might lessen. Or, if he's 'arrogant', as you say," Geo gave Mercedes a raised, knowing and speculative, eyebrow, "perhaps some of his end of it is his way of attempting to hide that perhaps he wants to be more than just an acquaintance because he doesn't think you'd be receptive."

Mercedes laughed a few seconds at the absurdity of the thought. "He's not the type who's very good at hiding his thoughts on matters for very long," she finally said. "He's rather, forward, about how he handles things. And like I said, we're just acquaintances. He's in town for a few days on business and then he's leaving. We're only spending time together because he's consulting with me on some matters he needed a second opinion on and, with our schedules, the late at night meetings are easiest arranged."

"What sort of business is he in that he's consulting with you on?" Geo asked curiously.

Mercedes paused and then took a drag off her cigarette, realizing she didn't have an immediate cover story for that question. Perhaps she should have let Alucard answer CJ last night so she could just borrow that answer. Then she had a truthful answer come to her inspired by a previous topic in the conversation with Geo.

"He's an intermediary between a religious organization composed of a great deal of fanatics and a group here in Philly that have had some hostile feelings towards one another due to differences in views and lifestyles. As a friend of some of those in the latter group, and as a pagan priestess who is officially titled 'Universal Minister' and used to working with multiple religions that don't always get along for joint-religious ceremonies, he is consulting me on how best to bring such conflicts to a long-term resolution." Mercedes gave herself a mental pat on the back for coming up with an explanation so quickly. She really wasn't cut out for this cover-story business, especially with the inability to lie and having to rely on misdirecting truth, but at least she wasn't completely botching it.

"Ah, I see." Geo nodded. "Well, if he's enlisting your aid, at least he gives weight to what you have to say."

"We don't know each other that well but he knows I'm useful to the situation," Mercedes stated bluntly. "That doesn't make us friends at this point or form the basis for something more substantial than coworkers of a sort who work well enough together."

"So do you think you two will be able to resolve this issue you're consulting with him on?" Geo asked, getting the hint finally that she didn't want to discuss her 'acquaintance' himself any further. Geo also knew better than to ask for specific details on such a case, as Mercedes would be bound by confidentiality clauses as a Minister not to discuss them.

Mercedes sighed, doubts creeping back in on that subject. She shrugged as she considered the situation. After several seconds of thought, she said honestly, "One way or other, it will get resolved. But the religious party in question is not comprised of the most compromising people in the world, so it's going to be a battle to get them to retreat from the constant conflict they're stirring up."

"Well, with everything you've been through for someone so young, and how good you are at relating to others and smoothing over situations when people have no idea what to do, I'm sure you'll be able to help your acquaintance sort this out," Geo said with an encouraging smile.

Mercedes gave a half-hearted smile in return. "I hope so. I try my best to see all sides of a situation. But this one is definitely the most challenging I've come across."


	14. Chapter 14 A Friendly Spar

Chapter Fourteen

A Friendly Spar

Alucard arrived at the human's apartment an hour after dusk, after making a sweep of the neighborhood for signs of Iscariot. He found none, much to his growing aggravation with this wait.

Alucard did, however, find Mercedes dressed in the same pants as previous nights with her hair once more in a tight braided bun. Tonight, however, she was wearing a close fitting tank top rather than a short-sleeved baggier crew cut. She hadn't noticed his arrival outside her apartment yet. Likely because the center of her living room had been cleared empty and she was listening to fast-paced German heavy-metal music loudly, the cord of earbuds tucked out of the way into her shirt and popping out at the bottom to attach to the iPod in her back pocket. Mercedes was focused on running through martial arts katas, with a set of daggers in hand, in time to the music.

Alucard raised an eyebrow in intrigued curiosity as he saw the heiress executing well-trained slashes with the blades, kicks of various sorts, and then back to knife work with punches, blocks and more slashes. There was a near fire in her currently golden eyes that could only be described as ferocious anger burning despite the precise, calculated movements she was keeping during her training.

And, also to Alucard's surprise, her lips were moving in time to the lyrics of the German song she was listening to, appearing to make the proper pronunciations.

Mercedes must have been finished with the knife work exercises because when the music switched to a new song, an equally fast-paced Italian rock band, a quick clean movement sheathed both knives into the holsters at her hips and she was deftly pulling her katana in the return movement. Alucard didn't know the name of the style, but he recognized it as a move meant to catch an opponent off guard with the drawing of the weapon- able to deflect a blow or slash at an opponent who was otherwise expecting a few moments of vulnerability while the weapon was being drawn.

Another thing Alucard couldn't help but take note of was that while the katana was steel-forged, the entire blade was overlaid with silver, though some small sections were wearing thin with age. Apparently Tukiko had not only given Mercedes training with swordplay and dealing with stress, and a means to defend herself from general threats, but a weapon that could kill the average vampire. Considering Tukiko himself was likely a vampire who could be killed with such a weapon, and Fumiko definitely had been, that showed a level of trust and concern for the human not often seen.

Mercedes was now running through exercises with the sword, again silently singing the lyrics to the song, careful not to accidentally run the blade through a bookcase or the furniture in the small area. For a human, Mercedes was moving with an impressive speed and agility. The latter was likely attributed as a result of her martial arts training and dancing. Alucard had encountered a few humans who were faster or spryer than the heiress, such as Walter when he was still human, but her skills were impressive none the less.

Alucard also noticed with appreciation as the exercises continued that she had a great deal more skill with her weapons than he had thought. Though he had seen her fight off attackers with reasonable success with a makeshift weapon, and she had listed her training, he hadn't been sure if she was exaggerating or had remained in practice with her bladed weapons as her training was primarily years before. European weapons often relied on hacking and cleaving, which could be extremely effective in combat to those with the raw strength to make use of the style to dismember or otherwise fatally maim their opponent.

The petite heiress was simply not built for such a fighting style. Mercedes was utilizing her speed and agility with obvious maintained skill to slash and stab with the katana, making use of the slimmer and lighter weapon's inherent design in ways that would cause precision damage to an opponent that could be every bit as lethal as its western counterparts. Watching the supple, nearly liquid, movements of the heiress, Alucard's lingering doubts were eradicated about the young woman's ability to handle the threat the average human or lesser vampire could pose to her if she was properly armed.

After the erotic dream Alucard had had earlier, and several others with various and more engrossing scenarios that had followed to the same ultimate ending, he had woken from his slumber with an immensely unsatisfied and irritable temper as he had an obvious lack of outlet for the roused desires to be relieved through. Even handling pressing business with monitoring Iscariot, making a brief trip out of the city, and hunting down dinner had done little to distract his mind from the dreams that had plagued his sleep. It had been sheer force of will that had finally reset his mind back to business and away from distractions.

Seeing now such an intense and combative display from the woman who had featured in those dreams, and noticing the way her tighter shirt clung to her curves and revealed far more of her creamy skin than she usually showed, was almost enough to set Alucard's blood afire all over again. He once more shoved down that reaction as he knew Mercedes wasn't likely to be in the most conducive mindset to be seduced with the pending life or death situation.

Once the circumstances with Iscariot passed, however… Alucard was finding himself seriously contemplating whether it would be worth staying in this country a little longer to have this particular human in any number of ways that had made their way into his dreams.

But first things first, she had to survive Iscariot's attack.

Alucard wasn't sure how long Mercedes had been at this training, but he could tell from dark circles gathering under her eyes that she was physically tired. He guessed she hadn't slept much, if at all, since he had last seen her. The vampire had a feeling the human empath was doing as her mentor, Tukiko, had taught her and channeling her emotions to increase her stamina and focus to keep fighting. From the contained furiousness of those attacks, the young woman was likely trying steel herself for what was to come. If he had to further guess, Alucard would wager some of her speed was an effect of her vampire mentor teaching her to channel said emotions, pushing her temporarily somewhat beyond a human's normal capabilities. If Mercedes kept up at this pace without any sleep, however, her ultimately fragile human body would suffer for the strain and she'd be useless when it came time to really fight.

Not to mention, she was so focused on training that she hadn't noticed his arrival still, which usually she would have by now. While she wouldn't have much warning should Iscariot arrive before dawn, she still needed to be aware of her surroundings for whatever advantage she could gain.

Alucard decided that now was as good a time as any to make his presence more easily noticeable.

.

.

.

Mercedes was indeed focused on her training katas.

After her talk with Geo ended on more positive notes planning details for the upcoming holiday, Mercedes had come back down to the apartment feeling rather dispirited nonetheless. She was wondering if she and Xander would be alive long enough to see the holiday arrive and watch Geo propose to Felix. Wondering if this situation with Iscariot was going to come to a resolution they would survive to see the results of at all. Wondering how they'd survive if Alucard couldn't stop Anderson from reaching them, as the priest was the biggest threat in this whole thing and the one factor Mercedes didn't have some real defense against. Wondering how bad whatever Iscariot was planning was, beyond killing herself and her son, and how it could harm her vampire friends here in Philly. Wondering how terribly her grandparents would be grieved should she and Xander be murdered. It had nearly destroyed them to lose their daughter; her grandmother's Alzheimer's becoming vastly more pronounced after the suicide. A pair of deaths in such a fashion, just two years later, might just send her grandmother into full dementia. Even if it didn't, they'd both be devastated. And it would be all her fault, again.

All Mercedes's concerns over the situation had started hitting her with a fury. The noble raised young woman had known if she didn't shake the doubts off, she would only be sabotaging herself with a defeatist attitude lingering when it came time to fight.

Mercedes had never once felt the emotion of hate before, but she could manage protective rage and a righteous revenge.

The empathic enchantress was following Alucard's advice and holding onto those feelings as hard as she could as she tried to mentally prepare herself for what she had to do should she come face to face with Anderson and the other operatives. Thoughts of Iscariot's operatives were playing through her head and Mercedes was concentrating on all the anger she felt over them taking Fumiko and Tukiko away from her. Over a loathsome pedophile priest no less. She concentrated on her desire to avenge those vampires who had been family. Family who had never asked to be vampires, but had accepted that state of being for what it was and had still tried to live their lives as peacefully as they could. Mercedes held onto her fury over Iscariot's desire to murder her son and herself while they slept for some unknown reason. Herself was bad enough, but her son was an innocent child of five years who didn't have a single mean bone in his body. And they were going to kill him if she couldn't keep him safe. Rage was able to boil at that thought and she clung to it. And the fury over whatever it was Iscariot was planning that could endanger those vampires still alive that she cared for. Fury for Iscariot turning her entire life upside down and inside out in the last few days, again, and making everything far more complicated than it should be, yet again.

Every slash and stab Mercedes made with her daggers or katana, she was imagining it as one of the masked killers of Iscariot receiving a measure of her outrage at the losses they had subjected her to, and were intending to do again if she couldn't uphold her responsibility as a mother and protect herself and her son well enough.

Mercedes's back had been to the wall facing the street when she did a half-spin on the ball and heel of her feet, her katana making a graceful arc down from right to left.

Only, instead of empty air, Alucard was in the space that was now in front of her.

Mercedes pulled the swing in time to not slash him across the chest, giving a shout of surprise. The vampire was smirking and raised an eyebrow in amusement at interrupting her training.

" _Fil de salope_ , Alucard! _Par les dieux_ , you were a military commander at one point!" Mercedes exclaimed furiously as she sheathed her katana and pulled the earbuds from her ears. "You should know better than to show up in strike range of someone practicing with a weapon! Do you enjoy getting injured so much that you felt the need to pop in like a fucking masochistic ghost and scare the hell out of me?!"

Alucard's amused expression only grew, smirk turning into a taunting grin. "And a good evening to you, Mercedes. Perhaps I'd be worried if a simple slash to the chest could kill me. But I fortunately don't have to worry about such weaknesses and your control was enough that you did not do so. Why so upset? Getting used to my company so much that you're afraid of losing it in one fell blow?"

"Actually, I'm kind of wondering why I pulled the blow," Mercedes retorted, still emotionally-amped. "Perhaps a sword through the chest would get you to actually knock on the gods-damned door like a normal person instead of phasing in whenever you show up."

"I'm not a normal person. If you really think you can place a sword in me, however, you're welcome to try," Alucard offered, still grinning at her responses.

Mercedes glared and crossed her arms in front of her in aggravation.

Which, Alucard couldn't avoid noticing, incidentally pressed her full breasts up against the low-cut hem of her shirt all the more invitingly. He kept his gaze meeting Mercedes's, however, and managed to keep his expression from changing as she replied crossly.

"And then I'm guessing I may end up with broken bones, or impaled with my own sword, or a bullet to the chest, or my apartment destroyed, or some other retribution for doing so, so as to teach me better about crossing the big bad Vampire King. Thanks, but no thanks, Alucard. I'm not that gods damned dumb."

"My, aren't we in a delightful mood this evening, Mercedes," Alucard said with exaggerated charming tones.

"It's been a rough week, it's only going to get worse, and I'm not in the mood for vampire pranks tonight," Mercedes replied, unable to keep her temper completely in check. She grabbed a towel she had previously tossed on a chair and wiped her neck, chest and arms clean of sweat before it could dry on her skin. She went to the bathroom and tossed the towel over the shower curtain rod, quickly splashed her face with some cold water and dried it off, then went to the kitchen to have a cup of coffee.

"When was the last time you slept?" Alucard asked soberly, watching the actions with a carefully measuring eye. The enchantress's eyes were back to brown and she was paler than before, now that she was no longer forcing herself to exercise, and the lack of flushed cheeks showed just how dark the circles beneath her eyes were becoming.

Mercedes paused mid-reach for coffee filters to look at him in surprise. " _Scuze_?"

"Sleep. When was the last time you had any?" Alucard asked with the condescending tones one would use with a child, albeit with a darker edge.

"Doesn't matter," Mercedes replied stonily. "I'll sleep when this is over or when I'm dead."

"You'll be dead a lot sooner without it," Alucard coldly pointed out that inescapable fact.

"In case you forgot, Alucard, my son and I are supposed to end up dead while I'm sleeping!" Mercedes snapped back at him. "I'll sleep when this is over cuz sleep isn't likely coming until either Iscariot's operatives are dead or I am!"

"Insomnia?" Alucard asked, remembering her mentioning it before.

Mercedes's frustration deflated a little bit as the vampire didn't return to sounding so taunting. "Yeah," she admitted grudgingly. After a few seconds of Alucard's gaze not wavering from her, silently demanding a better answer, Mercedes explained with a faint edge to her tone. "That, plus every time I close my eyes to attempt a nap, I'm seeing that fucking vision in my head like it's high-def TV. Until this plays out or the vision is averted, it's not going to stop. It's one of the oh-so-lovely aspects of being a seer. I was hoping that if I exhausted myself enough physically, I would be able to finally take a nap despite the replays while the evening is early and I wasn't expecting you for another couple hours. But you kind of screwed up that plan."

"Coffee isn't going to help an attempt to sleep," Alucard pointed out, diplomatically ignoring the last irritated comment. He was familiar with how distressing recurring visions could become for a seer, the mental strain they could create. He was, frankly, partially surprised Mercedes hadn't had a complete mental breakdown by now as her vision had pertained to the death of herself and her only child. He was only partially surprised, instead of entirely surprised, though, because he had also noticed she was a rather strong spirited young woman. Certainly stronger in many ways than most young women he had come across… Even still, she was starting to slip up, and that wouldn't do. "And I can smell wine on your breath. Alcohol will slow your reflexes and thoughts. If an attack comes, that could prove a fatal liability."

"I had a single glass of wine with my friend Geo, who lives upstairs, while catching up a little and allowing myself a few minutes to pretend I wasn't waiting to be attacked by crazy religious zealots," Mercedes replied, testiness back full force with having to explain herself. "I am not even buzzed and was almost hoping that glass would take the edge off my stress enough to take a nap. Unfortunately, it didn't work. And I haven't had a cup of coffee since this morning. But seen as where I'm not getting to sleep any time soon, I might as well have one now."

"You could sleep while I'm here," Alucard said neutrally. "I will wake you should there be sign of Iscariot arriving."

Mercedes shook her head immediately and refused, though not as sharp in tone as before. "I'm not tired enough to be able to pass out right now, but thanks."

"Then why not after I make certain your son is back to a deep sleep, you have a real spar against an opponent so you are physically tired enough to likewise get the sleep you need?" Alucard suggested with a smirk returning.

"Spar? With you?" Mercedes asked in disbelief.

The progenitor of vampires nodded once.

"I strongly doubt I, or my apartment, would survive."

"I'll be sporting," Alucard assured her. "No vampire powers used. I'll be unarmed, though you can use what weapons you like, and I will only use a strength and speed I think you can handle. So long as you're exercising the same control as before, there's no need for collateral damage. You're going to be fighting in close quarters anyway. You might as well practice for that eventuality."

"You must be getting bored waiting for Iscariot to show if you're wanting to spar with me and giving those sort of generous terms," Mercedes said wryly.

"It has been a rather dull stakeout thus far," Alucard admitted with a hint of his own frustration to that fact leaking into his tone.

Mercedes wasn't quite so quick with a refusal, giving the suggestion serious thought. "No supernatural vampire powers like your shadow tricks and shape shifting?"

"I'll restrain myself," Alucard affirmed.

Mercedes glanced to the living room, then down at her silver overlaid katana. She asked in concern, "And you're sure I'm not going to hurt you if I accidentally don't pull a hit properly or you miss a block?"

Alucard chuckled in amusement. "No, you won't be able to harm me. You can even not pull your hits if you need to vent that badly. Your weapons aren't the sort that can cause me damage that won't immediately heal, silver or not."

"Well, while stress-relief bloodshed might work for you, I'd rather not," Mercedes replied after a few more seconds of thought. "At least not on my own ally when there's still an enemy to face in the near future. There's not really enough room to swing my staff properly, so I'll forego the weapons as well and we can spar hand-to-hand."

"Now that is bold, even if I'm taking it easier on you," Alucard replied with a pleased grin at the choice. "What makes you think you can give a challenging spar unarmed against me if you had difficulty against the humans with a makeshift staff?"

"If I'm not using a weapon, I won't instinctually hold back so much for fear of slicing you up, as I would if I was using my katana, even if a silver-edged weapon is not going to actually harm you," Mercedes explained practically. "Or out of concern for possibly breaking something in my apartment unnecessarily with either my staff or katana. Daggers are so short range that I might as well fight hand to hand, especially as I don't want to hurt you. Also, you are a vampire, so I know you can take a great deal more than a human could. I was trying to hide the fact that I was not a normal human and was actively repressing the use of my psychic senses that would have aided me in anticipating their attacks, as my eyes would have shifted colors had my senses been extended. I don't have to do that against you. And as you are one opponent, which is where more of my training lies, I have more tactics to use. So I might actually have a better chance of making this a more challenging spar."

"Fair enough."

The vampire went to the young boy's room. After Mercedes once more removed the ward protecting Xander's mind, Alucard repeated the process from the night before of making the child slip deeper into a sleep that wouldn't end until he released the hypnosis.

Mercedes removed her katana, her wrist blades and a few other knives that may come loose during hand-to-hand combat or cause accidental injury. She walked back into the living room to place them on the chair Alucard usually sat on for the time being.

"Hey… Alucard?" Mercedes called over to the vampire, noticing a bag that didn't belong to her resting next to the chair. The sire of all vampires had never before brought anything but himself and his weapons along when he showed up at her house. "What's with the stereotypical, highly-conspicuous, black duffle bag?"

"Ah that," Alucard said with vague disinterest. He had a belying smirk tugging at his mouth as he returned to the living room. "As you're at a distinct disadvantage with being a human and Iscariot outnumbering you- and you're literally enacting 'bringing a knife to a gun fight' and don't have the skill with firearms, nor the time to practice, to change that- I thought something to help increase your chances of surviving might be useful."

"What's in it that'd be so useful against Iscariot?" Mercedes asked with a suspicious glance at the lumpy bag and then the vampire. "A bomb? Dynamite? A self-guiding, mini rocket launcher? Cuz any of that'd definitely defeat the whole retaining a low profile post-fight goal. Not to mention my apartment staying in one piece goal."

Alucard chuckled at both the wary look on Mercedes's face and the semi-joking inquiry. "Open it and find out or leave it there and wonder, little mouse," he challenged with a canine-exposing smirk. "You're willing to face armed attackers in an alley, fight against Iscariot, and spar with me. I wouldn't have thought a simple black bag would frighten you so much."

Mercedes gave the progenitor of vampires another suspicious look, but her curiosity was now flaring. "I strongly doubt even something like a bag is simply a bag when the dog is involved."

Alucard shrugged, grin widening all the more, silently daring her to open the duffle bag or back down.

Mercedes decided she wasn't backing down over a bag. Pride and curiosity were inarguably fueling that choice. She walked over to the black duffle bag, crouched down next to it, unzipped the top and peered inside.

A grin of her own spread across Mercedes's face a few seconds later as she pulled out a flak jacket with Kevlar long sleeves that had built in plating along the length of the arms for added protection.

"Alucard, you are like a dark Santa Clause come early!" Mercedes said with a laugh, holding up the jacket and inspecting it. She glanced back in the bag and saw a pair of Kevlar pants meant to be worn under BDUs, which would fit under pants like she was currently wearing.

Alucard gave her an extremely indignant look from beneath his messy black bangs at that exclamation. "A dark Santa Clause?"

The vampire's tone was not amused in the slightest. Which was contrary to a small flash of amusement the empathic human could sense as he said it.

"You wear a red jacket and you come bearing armored clothing to fight Catholic fanatics," Mercedes said, blatantly ignoring his warning tone of voice and her grin not disappearing as she unbuttoned and unzipped the jacket to try it on. "So yes, dark Santa Clause you are tonight. I should start calling you Jack Skellington."

"Jack who?" Alucard asked with a raised eyebrow as Mercedes stood and slipped on the jacket. Which, he noted with a bit of satisfaction, fit perfectly as his photographic memory had easily allowed him to pick one that was the right size as it had been fitted for a female soldier with a similar build.

"Jack Skellington," Mercedes repeated as she flexed her arms to test the movement and began securing it closed. Despite Alucard's usual ambiance of bad mood, Mercedes could pick up a bit of curiosity intermixed with it. "From the legendary clay-mation movie _Nightmare Before Christmas_ by Tim Burton. The skeletal Pumpkin King of Halloween Town who gets bored with scaring people and decides to take over Christmas for something new to do. Except he's Jack and his associates are all the classic monsters, so everything ends up comically evil, including kidnapping the real Santa Clause and various threats of death.

"Christmas ends up going very wrong when the monster-made toys get delivered to the kids and there's a bunch of missiles from the military to attempt to stop the Santa imposter. Jack realizes amidst the destruction that he was much happier being the Pumpkin King and has gotten whole new ideas from the experience on how to frighten people. So he saves Santa from imminent death at the hands of the Boogie Man, finally acknowledges his creepy undying love for his rag-doll friend Sally, who was doing her best to help him through his misguided experiment, and proceeds to let the holidays go back to their natural order."

Mercedes glanced up at the vampire mischievously once the jacket was secured, sensing his curiosity growing slightly stronger as she explained. "Wouldn't dare to try to guess at your taste in movies, your majesty, but you might actually like it. Meant for kids, but nonstop satirical comments for the parents. I don't have a single adult friend with a twisted sense of humor who doesn't love the movie."

"I have not seen it," Alucard replied stoically. "The jacket fits well."

"Indeed it does and thank you very much for bringing it," Mercedes replied, pleased grin not disappearing as she looked down at it then back to Alucard. "Dare I ask how you came by it, as I know something like this is strictly military issue and usually kept under secure lock and key when not being used by personnel?"

"There's a base not too far from here that was easily entered for a vampire such as myself," Alucard said with a smirk returning. "They were accommodating enough to have one in your size, so I appropriated it for better use than they'd have put it to. That's the newest issued design the US Military has. Though, if we were in England, I'd have on hand an even higher tech model that my servants occasionally wear. But, as it is, the plates will stop bullets from the guns your vision showed Iscariot carrying, though the Kevlar sections won't stop that high of a caliber. The Kevlar will stop the average slash of a knife, but even the plates won't stop Anderson's blades. There's not much that can with his holy magic augmenting him. The priest has managed to slash a train in half with one running blow."

"So gives me better protection from the average operatives, but don't hold my breath on Anderson," Mercedes confirmed. She was concerned about the newest information regarding Anderson, but she decided to enjoy the extra level of protection the jacket offered. "Gotcha. Still saying the Yuletide season came early."

"Does that mean you'll be sitting on my lap and kissing my cheek to say thank you?" Alucard asked suggestively.

Mercedes gave the vampire a halfhearted glare, too pleased with the jacket to be truly annoyed with the comment meant to irritate her. "Not a chance. But it does mean we really need to spar now so I can get used to wearing this."

"That is an equally acceptable option." Alucard's crimson duster jacket, black suit jacket, and hat seemingly melted away, leaving him wearing the close-fitting black dress shirt, matching dress pants and boots. He flipped the safeties on the two guns holstered at his waist to avoid any accidents. "Would it help you to concentrate if you plugged your iPod into the speakers? The boy will stay asleep through the noise."

"It would, actually, though I doubt Iscariot will give me the luxury of fight music," Mercedes pointed out.

"True, but this is only a spar," Alucard countered.

Mercedes thought about it and decided to take him up on the suggestion, putting up a simple sound barrier enchantment so the music wouldn't bother her neighbors so late at night. She pulled her iPod out of her back pocket and plugged it into the speakers positioned on one of her bookcases. She switched it to the beginning of her exercise play list featuring a mix of symphonic rock and metal bands from different countries.

When the music started up through the speakers, this time an Italian symphonic metal band with a penchant for medieval themes, Mercedes moved away from the furniture to the center of the room. She took up a defensive stance a few feet out of Alucard's arm reach.

"Ready?" Alucard asked with a smirk, fiery red eyes flashing brighter with anticipation.

"About as ready as I think I can be right now," Mercedes said with a return smirk, her own eyes turning gold as she opened her psychic senses to help anticipate the vampire's moves. She jokingly added, "Remember, Alucard, apartment stays intact and you're not supposed to kill me, so keep it friendly."

"Of course, _draga mea_ ," Alucard said with a polite nod, smirk not abating. "It would hardly be worth the effort to retrieve an armored jacket from a military base if I was simply going to kill you the first chance you have to wear it."

" _Touché_ , your majesty."

"Not yet." And with that, Alucard began a slightly-faster-than-human attack, which put her on the defensive for the first pass.

Trusting her intuition to help guide her, Mercedes was able to twist and turn to avoid most punches, turning aside others with blocking sweeps. She managed a single kick towards the vampire's chest, which he easily swiped to one side, and she had to then block a counter-punch. While Alucard was refraining from using his vampiric powers or weapons as agreed, and was avoiding the still-healing injury to her ribs, he was by no means making the spar easy for her.

"How many languages can you speak?" Alucard asked as he caught a punch and twisted Mercedes around, catching her in a restraining hold with her arms crossed in front of her and her back pressed against his chest.

Mercedes glanced over her shoulder and up at Alucard, "English and French fluently from growing up with them." As soon as the words were out, she twisted down in his grasp, turning her body to knee the vampire in the stomach.

Alucard released her as a human likely would to block the hit. He noted that, unlike what one of the human attackers from the beginning of the week said, she was able to put a fairly decent amount of force behind her blows for a woman of her size. She wasn't nearly as strong or fast as she would be if she was a vampire, but she wasn't doing all that poorly for a human. Either she had held back during that encounter due to hesitancy to kill another human if it could be avoided, the attacker had been brawny enough to withstand the blows and was bluffing to dishearten her, or her increased dark energy raised was augmenting her slightly.

Given the limited space, however, she wasn't able to retreat more than a dozen steps in any one direction. Nor could either of them perform certain counter-tactics like throws without risking breaking furniture.

"Japanese enough to get me by fairly well, mostly thanks to lessons from Tukiko san," Mercedes was continuing to list her known languages as they fought. "With enough understanding of the linguistics to speak the rest with a pocket translator. Can't read more than a few characters of the scripts, though. I haven't taken the time to learn them yet."

Mercedes blocked a kick from Alucard with a downward block of her forearm and then aimed one of her own, which he blocked in similar fashion. "Italian, Latin, Gaelic and German I know a fair bit of from music and family or friends. Latin I had a few years of while at the Academy _ma mère_ sent me to because I was prepping for law school. I can speak them all with a proper enough accent to be understood, but I'm not anywhere near fluent enough to be fully conversational without a translator, and don't expect me to be able to read more than a few words here and there of any of those but Latin."

Mercedes had to pause to block another series of punches that were increasing in speed. "Same goes for Greek and Russian, to a much lesser extent. Enough to have most basic exchanges and ask or answer common questions. I'd get lost on a full, unscripted conversation in the first minute though. And I know random phrases of other languages, including Hungarian and Romanian, but those really don't count."

"Still, that's quite a bit for your age," Alucard noted with a hint of approval in his voice.

"Never know who you'll meet and I'm good with puzzling out linguistics," Mercedes said matter-of-factly. "A lot of European languages have similar bases. So, once you learn a few, the others come easier. It doesn't hurt to be able to communicate at least the basics when possible. I'd like to be fluent in all those and a few more at some point."

After Mercedes blocked a few more punches, a kick, and then several more punches, Alucard faked a punch and then swept out her legs.

Mercedes went down on her ass with an "oomph" upon impact.

Alucard stepped back and patiently waited for her to stand.

"Your point," Mercedes conceded as she did so.

"You're going to need to take a more aggressive approach," Alucard said with a mocking smirk. "Otherwise, you're not giving much of a challenge with simply blocking and I'm really going to be disappointed in your performance."

"Can't have that, now can we?" Mercedes asked sarcastically, a smile tugging at her lips with the challenge.

Mercedes immediately went on the offensive and began trying to hit the vampire in a rapid series of punches and kicks from various styles of martial arts she had been taught.

Alucard blocked each one, no matter what tactics the young woman was trying, and was occasionally throwing in his own counter-attacks.

Which, over several minutes, was becoming increasingly aggravating for Mercedes. Alucard had a longer reach for both his punches and kicks, which made getting close enough to make a hit and then retreating to avoid a strike in return all the more difficult.

"Really, Mercedes," Alucard taunted with a chuckle as he swept aside a punch and the spin kick that had followed, then proceeded to floor her again by taking advantage of her being momentarily off balance. "I know you can do better than this. Where's that speed you were using before I arrived?"

Rather than answer the challenge verbally, Mercedes got up again and did in fact speed up her attacks as best as she could. The empath channeled the irritation of him blocking her attacks into trying to finally land one.

Alucard smirked and continued blocking the attacks that were coming with renewed vigor for the next few minutes. He increased his speed again to just overmatch hers, pushing her to try to attack faster. The seer had said her gifts were strictly those of the mind, and he knew she couldn't lie. He also knew that the mind could indeed be responsible for a number of seemingly-impossible feats by manipulating chemistry for a short time, allowing one to push their personal boundaries to the brink. However, she could unknowingly speak an untruth if she truly believed it was truth.

Alucard had noticed her speed changing to escape that alley he had first cornered her in, and when he first arrived this evening, and it was fluctuating now during their spar in tandem to her energy being raised. Her eyes became a brighter gold when her speed changed, which indicated that perhaps it wasn't simply her emotions fueling her speed. And if her dark magic could influence her speed, it might be able to influence her strength and other aspects of her physical state of being.

Alucard wanted to test that theory, and if it proved true, the enchantress may very well be sliding down a slippery path she hadn't meant to take when she started drawing on dark magic. There was no way to tell just where it would lead her if that happened because such forces were so dangerously volatile and fickle. And given Mercedes's rather deep-set views on her humanity and keeping to a certain code based on what she called Universal Laws, the progenitor of vampires had no doubts she wouldn't be pleased if such as he suspected was what was taking place. He'd have to keep a close eye on Mercedes during this spar and when the real fight came. Depending on what he saw, he might just need inform the enchantress that her playing with dark forces could be starting to affect her in ways she hadn't planned on and hadn't noticed because it would a subtle, gradual change that would be hard to spot from inside the situation.

For her own part, Mercedes recognized to some level that Alucard was toying with her and it was making her all the more aggravated that she couldn't actually land a single punch. He may be the first vampire, but even with an older vampire like Tukiko she would have at least scored a few solid hits by now. Hell, when she occasionally sparred with Liam or Davin or Marrick or Sasha, she could manage to land one on them if they were keeping it a fairly even fight.

Schwarze Sonne by E Nomine began playing and Alucard smirked in recognition when he heard the Latin intro. "Let's test your knowledge and multi-tasking skills a bit, shall we? Does the enterprising multi-linguist know how to translate this song to English?"

Mercedes glared at the vampire as she had to block another kick. "I've been listening to this song for years. You could have picked a challenge."

Alucard slipped past her offensive attempts and placed her back on the defensive for a few passes.

When the German lyrics started, Mercedes began reciting an English translation as best as she knew as she attempted with a vicious determination to retake an offensive position in the spar.

"You shine darker than the night

You are older than the light

You are created invisible

Have no body, nor face.

And scarily

You hide

Eternally

Black Sun.

You penetrate into the mind

You enlighten my mood

You entice and you defile

You are cold and burned out.

And inside

You heat me

Eternally

Black Sun.

Always following the smell of blood

Wild running from Hell

Always following the smell of blood

It is Cerberus."

Mercedes smirked as she said the legendary beast's name, thinking of her own hell hound. Despite the amusement over the song, however, she was having a difficult time staying on the offensive while finding enough breath to recite the lyrics.

"You appear in my dream

You pamper my black heart

Give light to the Tree of Life

You free me of the pain.

And in fact

You scare me

Eternally

Black Sun."

Mercedes slipped back into defensive blocking to conserve her strength. As she saw Alucard's entertained and expectant grin, a part of her mind realized that Alucard was having her expending her breath to recite the song for precisely that reason. He was trying to wear her out further, which would allow her to finally crash and sleep.

"You fly faster than the light

You are everywhere at once

You are not father, mother

And not Heaven too.

But without you

I wouldn't be

Eternally

Black Sun."

Alucard was maintaining the same speed in his attacks despite her flagging stamina, and Mercedes couldn't help but come to the conclusion that he was expecting her to not be able to finish. She defiantly continued the translation of the lyrics as they came, managing to get a few counter kicks and punches in (though still not landing) between defending from his attacks, and trying to figure out some way to finally get one up on the ever smirking and confident vampire.

"Always following the smell of blood

Wild running from Hell

Always following the smell of blood

It is Cerberus

Black Sun.

Furious hidden fear

My life fractures and is dejected

And destroyed.

The hunting Cerberus in Hell

Craves passionately the human flesh

Mortal."

As the song was coming to a close, an idea came to Mercedes amidst a series of carefully contained blows exchanged.

"Always following the smell of blood

Wild running from Hell

Always following the smell of blood

It is Cerberus."

Mercedes finished the last stanza of the song in Latin with a smirk just as taunting as the one Alucard was still wearing.

"Semper sequindo odorem sanguis

Ferrox currendo ex infernalis

Semper sequindo odorem sanguis

Est Cerberus."

She aimed a kick towards the back of the vampire's knee with the German conclusion of the song.

"Schwarze Sonne."

When Alucard went to block the kick by shifting his own leg up to repel her kick, as she had noted he had on other occasions she had made such a move, Mercedes tried a new tactic.

She swiftly reached out with both hands, yanking up on his lifted booted foot.

The surprise move sent the vampire down on his back because he was doing as promised and not using his powers to defy gravity or move excessively above her skills.

Before the magic-wielding heiress could enjoy the victory of catching the progenitor of vampires off guard, however, his other leg deftly swept out her own legs and she was prone on the ground as well.

Alucard was straddling Mercedes's hips and had her hands pinned on either side of her mere seconds later.

Mercedes huffed with aggravation and glared up at the vampire. "That was not sporting."

"All's fair in war, Lady Mercedes," Alucard countered with a canine revealing grin, a teasing tone taking the edge off the serious chastising. "I have told you before not to assume you were safe just because an enemy goes down. The fight isn't over until the enemy concedes or, in Iscariot's case, dead."

"Point conceded," Mercedes said grudgingly. She attempted to lift her arms to shove Alucard off herself, but he had a solid grip on her wrists and had his weight easily balanced so she failed to do so.

"For someone who can phase through walls like smoke shifts in the breeze," Mercedes complained, "you might as well weigh a solid ton, Alucard."

The young woman tried again to toss the smirking vampire off her by shifting her weight in a different manner, using her hips and torso strength in the attempt. She didn't have any better luck with the second attempt.

"Not quite, Seer," Alucard replied with a taunting laugh as he easily shifted his weight to keep her pinned and she finally stopped struggling. "But the guns and their ammunition do add a couple dozen extra kilos. Being a vampire, I don't have that same concern over their weight, nor over the recoil from such guns that would easily snap any human's wrist."

" _Domn meu_ ," Mercedes said playfully from where she lay, meeting Alucard's gaze, "a military man should know those are referred to as 'weapons' and that 'gun' refers to something else entirely. And his majesty should know such a thing, no matter how impressive it may be, should not be boasted of in front of noble-born ladies. It really is ill mannered and most unbecoming."

Alucard raised an eyebrow as Mercedes said the Romanian term that roughly translated to English equivalents as "my lord" and made a common military joke followed by the teasing reprimand on propriety. The Vampire King leaned back slightly in surprise to look at the flirtatious human with greater ease, wondering if perhaps he misjudged how the heiress's moods would be effected by impending danger and a bit of seduction might just be what she wanted to distract her from such.

And that proved to be his mistake.

The moment Mercedes felt Alucard's weight shift, her leg darted around one of his and she pulled hard, simultaneously jerking on his arm on the same side and shifting her own weight as abruptly as she could. The surprise move rolled them over so their positions were reversed, nearly hitting bookcases as she did so, and the vampire was on his back with the human leaning over him.

Mercedes quickly shifted so she was in turn straddling Alucard's waist and able to pin him with her full weight, though he still had a grip on her wrists as she planted her hands on either of his shoulders.

"Am I catching on a bit better to the rules of warfare, enemy of my enemy?" Mercedes asked with a satisfied smirk, tone no longer the least bit coquettish.

Alucard returned the smirk with quite a bit more ferocious amusement and used his grip on her wrists to shove her from leaning over him and back away from the bookcases.

Mercedes tried to shift her weight against the action to bring a leg up and kick against the back of one of his arms.

Despite her attempt to release his grip and maneuver away, Alucard kept his hold and twisted his body, forcing Mercedes to bring her leg back down to avoid it being twisted. The vampire had her once more pinned on her back a few seconds later. As Mercedes had been straddling him to pin him when he flipped the move around, he was between her legs. Alucard opted to remain there, pinning her instead with his torso pressed against hers and not giving her the opportunity to throw him off balance again by pulling his leg out from under him.

"Excellent use of a surprise psychological diversion, _draga mea_ ," Alucard conceded smugly as Mercedes once more tried to toss him off her and failed to be able to do so, "but you in turn left yourself off-balanced to a stronger opponent."

Mercedes sighed in frustration and glared at Alucard again as she stopped struggling against his grip. "So enlighten me, skilled master of combat. How do I toss you off me or take the upper hand now?"

"You could say 'please'," Alucard suggested as he leaned closer to her, his black hair shifting partially over his eyes. "Otherwise, you're stuck in such a vulnerable position against an opponent who outweighs you, out-muscles you, and can keep their balance and restraining holds despite your limber counter-tactics to slip away."

Alucard's shift to seductive tone and smirk were seemingly at odds with his features that held no gentleness to them. Without the hat taming his shaggy black hair or his glasses hiding part of his ageless features, Alucard appeared almost younger, later twenties rather than somewhere in his thirties. But this close to one another, Mercedes couldn't help but notice he was all harsh angles and cold planes with his slender aristocratic nose, sharp high cheek bones, lethally-pointed teeth, and long, angular clean-shaved face. His hellfire eyes were curtained by his thick bangs, which cast shadows on his ivory features from the light shining above. Those shadows accentuated the sharpness of his features.

There might have been a great deal of attractiveness in his features to one casually observing the vampire, as CJ had so blatantly suggested (and she could perhaps objectively admit to.) But Alucard's inner harsh nature that radiated off him relentlessly led the empath to see them as outer reflections of his ruthless personality that always seemed to be lurking beneath the surface. That nature was not something Mercedes could ignore simply because the vampire was having one of his mercurial mood swings again.

"Somehow, I doubt an enemy like Iscariot is going to get off me if I say 'please'," Mercedes said wryly, meeting his fiery eyes with a bit of unease due to him leaning so close to her in such a position.

"True. They'll shoot you or stab you without hesitation," Alucard agreed, canines once more exposed with his widening amused grin. "But you'd have a much better chance of throwing them off you with the moves you tried than you did with myself, so you wouldn't need resort to such a humbling tactic."

"Fine. Alucard, will you please release me as this isn't much of a spar with me stuck like this," Mercedes said pointedly, glancing at her wrists for emphasis.

"I'm rather comfortable with this position, but I am willing to be accommodating as the lady wishes," was the deviously spoken reply as the vampire shifted her hands up and crossed her wrists above her head.

With his tall frame, especially as Mercedes was a petite woman, Alucard could easily rest his elbows on the floor to either side of her head while pinning her arms in such a fashion without risk of unbalancing himself.

Which, incidentally, made Alucard's lean, hard-muscled frame press all the closer into Mercedes and kept her enwrapped beneath him. And she could tell he was all well cut lean muscles because he was currently only wearing the close fitting dress shirt and pants, no over jacket or duster present to help conceal such facts. Observations Mercedes noticed in the back of her mind, though she shoved them away quickly.

Alucard continued speaking as he held her gaze, "Hm… I do believe you were correct, Seer. This is far more conducive to enlivening our little spar and ensuring you are exhausted enough to sleep well."

"I'd be worried except I can tell you're simply trying to rattle me for your own personal entertainment." Mercedes replied with certainty, though this position was still acutely too intimate for her comfort and becoming more so with each passing second for multiple reasons. "There's not a bit of hunger or arousal coming off you at the moment."

"Perhaps my entertainment to your reactions is simply greater than either of those for you to sense them," Alucard replied tauntingly, grin becoming nothing short of dangerously feral. Even with all the various ways he had dreamed of taking the young woman, this battle of wills after a relatively well-played spar was far more enticing than her falling prey to his desires as easily as most women did. He kept her hands pinned above her head with one hand and let his other hand brush her long, dark braid away from her neck and rapidly but shallowly rising chest as her hair had come loose from its bun during their grappling scuffle.

"If that was the case, then I'd almost feel insulted, except I don't care," Mercedes said briskly with narrowed eyes.

Alucard leaned down, grin shifting to a seductive smirk once more, letting his face hover mere inches from Mercedes's, the tips of their noses nearly brushing one another.

"How intriguing these gifts and that mental training of yours are, _draga mea_." Alucard commented as he kept her wary gaze locked on his own. He was now deftly unfastening the jacket she wore to expose the full length of her neck and chest, her attempts to shift away beneath his fingers ineffective with as securely as he had her pinned. "You're not the least bit affected by my presence, are you?"

"Sorry, but no. Beguiling charms of the undead don't work on an empath and enchantress like me unless I want them to or a vampire can manage to breech my mental barriers," Mercedes replied as Alucard got her jacket open and his long fingered hand slid sensuously from her abdomen to her hip, pushing aside the jacket. "Vampires start at square one, same as humans. Now please release me and I do not mean from my clothing."

Mercedes saw Alucard's eyes flare brighter at her sarcastic tone of voice. She turned her face away to glance up at her trapped wrists, once more trying to pull free. The vampire's grip was like steel and, even with him only using one hand, she couldn't get free.

"Careful, Seer," Alucard's voice rumbled out warningly. His free hand darted up and wrapped around her dark braid, giving a pull. Mercedes gasped in surprise and met his gaze again as he made her head lean back and exposed her neck to better vantage. "You inadvertently give yourself away. I may have meant fear or arousal, yet you responded as though to refute the latter."

Alucard's face dropped down near Mercedes's neck, inhaling her scent and found it to be even more inviting than he had imagined. The vampire whispered in his captive opponent's ear, "Remember, Mercedes, I have very keen senses and will recognize subtle shifts, even if you refuse to admit it out loud and attempt to misdirect by commenting on the general effect of psychic powers. Unlike Sunday evening, tonight I smell a tantalizing mix of both reactions coming from you. I haven't even attempted to use any of my powers to elicit such, so I think it is safe to say that it is my presence that effects you more than you care to acknowledge."

Mercedes's jaw clenched as a blush rose to her pale cheeks. Though she would never condescend herself to admit it out loud, Alucard was right that a small part of her felt stirrings of arousal. But the larger, rational, side of her mind wasn't about to consider relinquishing to that side, knowing that seemingly enticing route would lead to nothing but trouble of the ending-up-dead-or-ghouled-or-otherwise-enthralled varieties. The rational side quickly buried any tentatively curious thoughts to the contrary, almost before she could privately admit they were there, making sure the knowledge of who she was dealing with remained prominently at the forefront of her thoughts.

Mercedes knew she probably shouldn't taunt Alucard, especially when pinned as she was. After the last few days of the vampire almost always getting the last word in, though, she decided she wasn't going to be the one to back down. Particularly not in a situation like this.

"Given current position you've pinned me in and your behavior just now, Alucard, I think it's fair to say why I surmised you meant the latter," Mercedes said as coldly as she could. "And a base, instinctual, physical reaction to a male presence while sparring is not the same as being truly aroused. You've bested me at sparring and you've proven you're the more effective with psychological warfare. I'm more tired than I was before, so original mission accomplished. I've said 'please release me'. Twice. Don't make me immobilize your undead ass to get you off me."

"Such an imperious tone all of a sudden," Alucard said ominously, amusement disappearing entirely from his voice. "You've clearly forgotten whom you're speaking to simply because there's an alliance for a common enemy."

The vampire pulled the young woman's hair harder to force her head back even further. As Mercedes's breath hitched in discomfort, her shoulders arched up to try to relieve the pressure on her neck. A move which pressed her full breasts against his chest, and Alucard bent his head down closer to the human's exposed neck.

.

.

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...Aaaand, don't kill me GirlWhoLovesFanfiction... This one just got too damn long and needed to be split up. Figured the cliffhanger was a good spot. ;-) Perhaps if the several dozen lurkers who read the last several chapters speak up and give some feedback, I might post the next chapter earlier than next week. Seriously, folks. I see I have, at least, a few people from every continent sporting civilization that has internet, even people from countries I didn't know existed (thanks for expanding my geography knowledge, fanfiction, as it made me curious to research those countries and find out more, as I hate not knowing something) and you all keep coming back for more chapters, so speak up a bit. I'm curious to see what your thoughts are.


	15. Chapter 15 A Challenge Made

Chapter Fifteen

A Challenge Made, Accepted and Countered

"Such an imperious tone all of a sudden," Alucard said ominously, amusement disappearing entirely. "You've clearly forgotten whom you're speaking to simply because there's an alliance for a common enemy."

The vampire pulled her hair harder to force her head back even further. As Mercedes's breath hitched in discomfort, her shoulders arched up to try to relieve the pressure on her neck. A move which pressed her full breasts against his chest, and Alucard bent his head down closer to the human's exposed neck.

"I could simply rip this necklace off your neck and you'd discover how ineffective your wards are then."

"I wouldn't try it, even if I were you," Mercedes warned, though she stiffened as the vampire's mouth dropped yet closer to her neck. "You're getting a warning because you are an ally, but don't push me."

"Is that so?" Alucard's cool lips brushed against Mercedes's neck with the words and he felt the human shiver slightly beneath him. The progenitor of vampires was not concerned by her threat. He could smell both sets of hormones still, even if the fear was stronger. The tip of his long tongue lightly licked along the path of the vein in her neck, causing the heiress to freeze in her movements entirely. Alucard loosened his grip on her braid marginally and pressed his body flush against Mercedes's, his hips finding a more snug place between the cradle of her legs, to pin her even more inescapably against the floor.

The extra weight and suggestive movement, which made the arousal he felt plainly evident, caused Mercedes to take a sharp intake of breath in surprise as she was given no room to doubt that her senses had failed to pick up on his lust beneath his amusement.

Alucard's voice grew deeper and slightly husky, his native accent slipping more prominently into his tone, as he whispered, "You smell more than tempting enough to have a taste of, _draga mea_. Sweet human blood laced with dark power. I caught hints of your unique scent before and it was enticing then in your fear. Now you smell like an exotic feast fit for a king and I find myself feeling more ravenous with each moment that passes."

The vampire's teeth grazed just above her collarbone without applying enough pressure to break skin, a low growl thrumming from the back of his throat.

The empath could indeed sense a famished vibration growing within the vampire, or perhaps had been there all along and was only now being allowed to surface enough for her to sense. A hunger that wasn't solely for blood, that matched the eminent evidence of physical arousal. While both were disconcerting, the former was far more worrying to the human than the latter. Mercedes had a feeling if she showed any overt signs of weakness, Alucard would take that fearful moment as an opening to bite her. She wanted to avoid that occurrence at all costs if possible.

"Bite me, Alucard, and I swear to you it won't end in a result you would enjoy," Mercedes replied as steadily as she could.

Alucard's teeth paused their menacing caresses against the nape of her neck.

"I can't lie, so I advise you take that promise seriously," the seer warned. "I haven't survived so much time around vampires by not being prepared and adapting for those who may not be as pleasant as those I call friends. And this necklace doesn't leave my neck except by my own doing and the result from an attempt to take it would likewise be one you'd not enjoy."

"Hm, clever threat, little mouse…"

The vibration of the drawn out sounds reverberated over Mercedes's neck and caused her to tremble again before she could repress the reaction.

Alucard let his teeth graze Mercedes's neck again and he could sense her fear, now overpowering the scent of arousal from before, but she was still restraining such fearful reactions enough to not pull away.

The vampire retreated for the moment and his darkly intrigued face once more was hovering only a few inches away from Mercedes's, fiery gaze met golden. Alucard saw that the human appeared serious in her threat, though he could see contradicting uncertainty there as well. He smirked and shifted his face so his lips were next to her ear. Alucard gave a gentle nip at Mercedes's earlobe, careful not to draw blood right now which would tempt him to take more, causing her to hold her breath.

Alucard whispered in a voice best compared to the finest silk or velvet, richly smooth and sensuous, "And a warning for you, Lady Mercedes. Such ambiguous threats may temporarily keep me from succumbing to the temptation to pursue having a more thorough and gratifying taste of you. However…"

Alucard paused and gave another nip at Mercedes's earlobe. His hand unwound from her braid and came to rest behind her neck, fingers caressing along her warm skin. The vampire's teeth released her and he gave a small lick just below her ear, near her jaw, causing her to shiver again beneath him.

Mercedes's shiver turned into a faint trembling of trying to repress any reaction as Alucard alternated between soft, almost chaste, kisses and small nips down her neck and steadily closer to her breasts.

Alucard could smell Mercedes's arousal returning and, before he reached that alluring destination that would make the temptation to take her impossible to resist should he explore it, his lips traveled leisurely up to the other side of her neck. His deep accented voice was nearly a throaty growl again as he continued whispering.

"However, know my appetite has been suppressed by necessity for far longer than I am content with." Alucard's teeth grazed slowly over the nape of Mercedes's neck, tongue once more licking along the path of a vein and lingering a few seconds against the warm soft skin as he felt her pulse speeding yet faster with the intoxicating mix of fear and arousal. "Unlike some who may be easily dissuaded, I am not one who has ever accepted the concept of being defeated or denied something I crave."

Alucard's hand at Mercedes's neck slipped upwards and his fingers entwined within her hair again, nails gently scraping against her skin with the shift, as he pressed the full length of his body against hers a second time; his arousal now pressing hard against her entrance, with only their clothing to keep him from plunging inside her. Alucard's keen hearing allowed him to hear a well-suppressed whimper from the back of Mercedes's throat, the only sign besides another spike in the scent of arousal coming from her that indicated she was not reacting solely out of fear. She was feeling more than just a little enticed by his advances on some level.

A pleased smirk formed on Alucard's lips at the show of self-restraint the human displayed. "Another night when there isn't an attack from Iscariot pending and there is the luxury of time, I may pursue your challenge at my own leisure. We shall see if it is entire truth or simply a smokescreen, Seer, and just how much of an obstacle it truly presents in discovering if you can satiate my voracious hungers should it be the former." The vampire inhaled Mercedes's tantalizing scent again, committing the smell to his perfect memory. "If you continue to give a spirited and entertaining challenge, _draga mea_ , you may find I'd be inclined to be a generous victor and reward you beyond even your most creative imaginings for your efforts when you finally concede defeat."

In the blink of an eye, the vampire was standing and his hand was offered out to an immensely shaken, and relieved, Mercedes to aid her to her feet. His hat and jackets were once more on and the iPod was silenced.

Mercedes glanced at Alucard's hand warily, ever more confused by the vampire's sudden shifts in behavior, and stood on her own. Alucard was watching her with hellfire eyes and an expression she couldn't decipher again. It was extremely disconcerting. Especially as she was now quite thoroughly exhausted. Mercedes knew she wouldn't be able to give much of a fight should he attempt to follow through with his whispered warnings in earnest and her magical defenses didn't manage to protect her. She was fairly certain those she hadn't yet used on him would, even given the reduced effects of the immobilization ward, but she wasn't wanting to test that theory tonight if she could help it.

"You should get some rest, Mercedes," Alucard said with a smirk returning. His voice was back to its usual subtly mixed accent, his tone perfectly neutral despite that smirk, as though nothing unusual had happened seconds earlier. "You're going to need whatever strength you can recover soon enough."

"Strangely enough, Alucard," Mercedes replied with a clipped voice as she fixed the jacket back in place with unsteady hands, "I'm finding that I'm not exactly feeling predisposed to sleep right now."

The vampire chuckled before asking, "Then how would you prefer to pass the remainder of the evening until you do find rest? Conversation? Further sparring?"

Mercedes glared at the vampire as he added the last suggestively. She sighed in frustration and considered the options as she retrieved her weapons.

Sparring again was most certainly not going to happen again. Ever. Moments of polite interactions and cooperation or not, it had been a mistake to let her guard drop that much around Alucard and start treating him like an ally who could be completely trusted. Whatever convoluted game the vampire was just playing with her for his own entertainment, that Alucard was able to raise any sort of stirrings in her, despite that she reasoned he must be doing it simply to amuse himself, bothered Mercedes on an innate level. His confident declaration while pinning her aside, she was determined not to so easily step into one of his dangerous traps again.

Mercedes was careful to keep an eye on the vampire as she replaced her weapons and then fixed her braid back up into a bun. Alucard had taken a seat on the same chair he had on previous nights and was patiently waiting for some response with the arrogant smirk that she was once more wanting to remove from his face.

Conversation might be fine to pass the time as they waited, Mercedes considered, but she wasn't in the mood for further banter right now. Alucard was mentally exhausting to deal with and wouldn't help her mind relax any.

When her hair was tied back properly, Mercedes gave another sigh and glanced at the stocked DVD shelves.

"Well, it came up in conversation. Care to be introduced to the devious hilarity that is Nightmare Before Christmas?" Mercedes asked with a fairly civilized tone. "Or do you have any preferences from those available?" She was not trying to forget the incident that just happened, as that would be foolish, but simply set it aside for the time being.

"If you would like to watch a movie, you are welcome to choose what you would find interesting to pass time," Alucard replied impassively. "I'll ask you to do me the kindness, however, of not choosing something sentimental or preachy."

"I generally don't do sentimental or preachy movies, so I think we're safe there," Mercedes said. "I could use a few dark-humored laughs without gratuitous violence and gore. I already have that in high def in my head and I'll be seeing even more in real life in the near future. Do you think you can tolerate a few songs in the movie when they're subjects like ways to possibly torture Santa or making evil toys for Christmas?"

"It doesn't sound any worse than some of the things Police Girl has watched in my hearing distance," Alucard said dryly. "And in fact may be more tolerable than others."

"Nightmare Before Christmas it is then." Mercedes wondered what might have been worse in Alucard's point of view. Instead she asked, "And 'Police Girl'?"

"Indeed. One of the vampires I've made who had chosen to remain my servant despite being a true vampire in her own rights now," Alucard replied in bored tones with this line of conversation. "Her given name is Seras Victoria."

"And I'm guessing she was a police officer before you turned her seen as where you likewise refer to me as Seer on occasion because I'm a seer?" Mercedes asked as she retrieved the movie from the shelf it rest on.

"Your intuitive assumption is correct, Seer," Alucard said with a smirk returning.

Mercedes shook her head and put the movie into the DVD player. "And Walter doesn't have some nickname?"

"As a matter of fact, he does," Alucard replied, smirk widening. "One he justly earned before he was turned."

"And what would that be?" Mercedes asked with a raised eyebrow.

"The Angel of Death."

"Cute," Mercedes said with a laugh she held back with only marginal success.

"Oh, you might not think it so if you saw him in action," Alucard said with a return of the nearly feral grin. "He single-handedly disposed of armies of ghouls and vampires before accepting an offer I made to become a vampire himself for a service rendered. Now his talents are put to use slaughtering Iscariot operatives and any others I command him to."

"I suppose he does deserve such a name then," Mercedes said a little more soberly.

"He does at that."

Mercedes turned and stifled a small yawn, weariness creeping up on her again with the lack of adrenaline to keep her on high alert. She went into the kitchen to finish the task she had started earlier of preparing coffee as she waited for the movie to start.

"Is this a movie you've allowed your son to watch?" Alucard asked from the chair as the opening Disney logo and anti-theft warnings appeared on the screen. His measuring gaze was following the human's movements, however.

"Um, hell yes," Mercedes said. "Jack Skellington is one of Xander's favorite characters from movies. We even dressed up as Jack and Sally for last Halloween. Our normal dog, who passed away this winter, was dressed up to look like Zero. I had his wagon outfitted to look like the coffin sleigh and we had a stereo in the back of the wagon playing the sound-track as we went trick-or-treating."

"Interesting choices to expose your child to," Alucard said wryly.

"This movie isn't so deep into horror that it is inappropriate for a child his age," Mercedes replied, filling the coffee maker with water. "Besides, I'd rather my kid have a sense of humor and not be afraid of every little thing that goes bump in the night. Especially with the way the world is and the life we personally have, even if I do try to keep a low profile as best as I can."

Mercedes turned on the coffee maker and reached up to pull a fresh mug from the cabinet above the machine.

A long arm reached in front of Mercedes and a pale finger switched the coffee maker off before it could start.

Mercedes managed not to drop the mug in surprise, having sensed Alucard's swift movement just in time to avoid such a reaction. She set the mug down quickly and turned around to face the vampire.

Alucard leaned forward and placed both hands on the counter to either side of Mercedes, effectively trapping her where she stood as his face loomed a short distance over hers.

"Seer, wanting to prove your stamina and be awake until Iscariot shows is admirable in your determination but foolish in realistic results," Alucard said quietly, intent hellfire gaze pinning Mercedes in place just as effectively as his arms. "Vision aside, you need to sleep this evening. You've gone 48hours without rest and you only slept a few hours the night of the vision. You hardly slept previous nights as well. Don't be so arrogant to think you can handle Iscariot as you are now. Refusal to sleep will get you killed. It will be safe for you to sleep while I am here. I will wake you if there is a sign that anything is about to happen."

Mercedes held the vampire's gaze mistrustfully, not feeling the least bit believing of such a statement after the way sparring turned out. She said as much. "What makes you think I can trust that you'll hold to that after your 'warning' not even ten minutes ago?"

"Have I attacked you in your sleep on previous nights when I had an opportunity to do so without you even having knowledge I was nearby?" Alucard asked sharply.

Mercedes could sense a strong flash of anger from the vampire and the fire in his crimson eyes likewise flared brighter. "No, you have not," she conceded quietly. Fear was swiftly stealing over her as she realized she may have pushed the vampire's patience too far, even if he had given her cause to question him in such fashion.

"Did I not say if I wished to test your challenge, it would be when there was not an attack pending?"

"Yes, you did," Mercedes again conceded, gaze pulling away from the vampire to look down in an attempt to keep her fear from being seen.

Alucard raised one hand and cupped the young woman's chin, almost gently, tilting her head back up to make her meet his gaze.

Mercedes fought the instinctive urge to pull away, not wanting to further anger the vampire when he wasn't making a move to attack her yet.

"Have I gone back on my word to you even once thus far?" Alucard asked more neutrally, but his hellfire eyes were unrelenting.

Mercedes paused a slightly longer time before answering, contemplating the question asked. "No, you have not," the seer conceded a third time. She could sense the volatile vampire's anger lessening further with the acknowledgment.

"And have I ever truly harmed you?" Alucard asked, voice a shade quieter than the last questions.

There was another short pause as Mercedes considered the phrasing of the question. When she had first met Alucard in the alley and he had slammed her into the wall with a chokehold on her neck, he had only used enough force to pin her. The progenitor of vampires could have used far more force and maimed or killed her easily with those actions if he wanted to. He hadn't attempted to harm her when interrogating her on her gifts, even if he made not so subtle threats to possibly do so if she didn't cooperate. Even when she had called to him for help after her vision, and had made him angry with her voice resounding in his head, he hadn't laid a hand on her. And he had been careful during their spar not to aggravate her injury to her ribs, never using more force than was necessary to simply spar or restrain her.

"No, you have not," the seer conceded a fourth time. She felt some small amount of the tension she had been feeling since their spar release as Alucard pointed those facts out and she acknowledged them, though she was by no means willing to trust the vampire without reservation. Just because he had behaved so thus far, it didn't mean he would always act in such fashions.

Alucard's head dipped a few inches closer to Mercedes's, a small smirk playing at his lips, but his voice was still serious when he spoke. "I am a destructive inhuman being. It would be smart to never forget that, Seer. But I am not Iscariot. If I decide this alliance has become more of a liability than an aid and decide to remedy that by killing you, I can promise you that you will be awake and I'll give you a proper chance to defend yourself before I make my own attempt to end your life."

Alucard's smirk grew slightly as he saw some of the fear retreating further from the human's expression. His gaze traveled down Mercedes's body a moment, taking in the feminine curves apparent even when dressed for combat as she was, before returning to meet her gaze. His voice dropped to a quieter seductive tone, "And if I decide I wish to satiate my carnal hunger by taking you, _draga mea_ , I can also assure you that it will be only after I have heard you pleading with me for that privilege while I have you otherwise deeply enthralled in throes of passion the likes of which I can guarantee you have never experienced before."

Alucard's amused smirk grew to a grin as he saw irritation flare in the young woman's expression, even as he heard her breath catch ever so slightly and her pulse speed up a few beats. He gently released her chin as he concluded, "Otherwise, Lady Mercedes, such an unchallenging victory in either capacity would be entirely unsatisfying for myself. And rest assured, I never deny myself satisfaction when there is satisfaction to be had."

Mercedes contemplated Alucard's words for several seconds, trying to tamp down her aggravation with his arrogant presumption voiced in the second statement and not let her mind consider just what the progenitor of vampires might be capable of in an attempt to make such a confident boast come to pass. Especially as her mind wanted to pull up the very recent memory of Alucard having her on her back, able to feel every inch of him as he pressed tightly against her, (he admittedly had ample reason to be confident,) his seductive gentle actions while still keeping her pinned…

No, no! She was definitely not allowing her mind consider where that could have gone or what he could do if given a chance. Her damned mind must really be going batty from sleep deprivation if she was even for a second thinking like that. That's all it was, a weary, extremely strained mind being influenced by Alucard. She needed to concentrate on the current issues at hand.

Given what she witnessed of Alucard thus far, she could believe his reassurances such as they were. He seemed to enjoy toying with others too much to get any pleasure from killing someone in their sleep. He'd want to prove his fortitude by taking the worst they had, and then flaunt his superiority by killing them while they failed whatever attempts they made to stop him. And she strongly doubted his over-inflated ego would sanction raping a woman and not being given the satisfaction of desirous attention returned. He'd find it a defeat to his masculinity and allure to not be able to seduce a woman into willingly giving herself to him.

And, as he pointed out, he had thus far not gone back on his word. For some reason Mercedes couldn't fully define, her intuition told her that he wasn't the type to break a promise and she believed that. At least, she believed he wouldn't break a promise in the manner it was given and when made freely.

The seer did take note of his wording though, and the rather clear implication that he may seriously pursue 'satisfaction' of one sort or the other when the crisis with Iscariot was resolved. Given his history and current actions, she had a feeling that the more erotic satisfaction would be the one he would attempt. Mercedes knew she could only handle one issue at a time, though, and she needed Alucard's help to deal with Anderson and the other Iscariot operatives. Any situation that arose with the progenitor of vampires afterward, she would just have to deal with as best as she could.

Mercedes placed those concerns to the back of her mind and slowly nodded, meeting his gaze again. She said quietly, not feeling confident enough in her composure to speak louder, "I believe we have an understanding as to the state of our alliance for the time being."

Alucard removed his other hand from the counter and stood up straight. "Indeed. And I believe your movie is waiting on the menu screen for you to start it." Alucard's tone was unmistakably a command for her to rest, not a suggestion, and his gaze flicked briefly to the living room for emphasis.

Mercedes sighed and, with a final wary glance up at the imperious vampire, left the kitchen without restarting the coffee pot. She hit play on the DVD player as she passed it and then stacked the decorative pillows in a pile on one side of the couch. She shifted her katana and knives so she could half-lay, half-sit, comfortably to watch the movie. She kept the plated jacket on as she didn't know if she'd have enough time to put it back on should Iscariot show, but she was used to wearing even more constricting corsets on a fairly regular basis and wasn't overly bothered by keeping it on.

Alucard resumed his seat on the chair and leaned back, likewise at ease. His fingers were once more laced together and hands resting over his stomach. His hat was leaning forward, partially blocking the view of his eyes, but Mercedes could see that said blazing eyes were cracked open and therefore he was staying awake.

Mercedes turned her attention to the movie and tried to stifle another yawn as the opening song began and CG ghosts floated across the screen for the start of the annual Halloween Town celebrations.

"Alucard?" Mercedes asked hesitantly when the first song was done.

"Yes, Mercedes?"

"Have you or your servants gotten any leads on what it is Iscariot is after with all this exactly?"

"No," Alucard said, irritation with that situation flaring.

"Oh," was all Mercedes could think to say that might not potentially make him further aggravated.

"If I do discover conclusive evidence of their reasons for targeting your son and yourself, I will tell you."

"Thank you."

Alucard nodded once.

After Jack's first solo song, Alucard stood up from where he sat. "I'm going to make an inspection of the neighborhood again while you are still awake."

Mercedes nodded towards the movie and gave a faint smile. "You won't miss much. Jack's just going to end up wandering into Christmas Town and discover he likes the warm fuzziness of it and wants to try it out. It's about the least satirical part of the whole movie, so you have excellent timing."

Alucard gave a fleeting chuckle. "If you drift off before the next time I need check for signs of Iscariot, I will wake you so you won't be caught off guard while I'm not in the apartment itself. As you are home tonight, I won't need make rounds near as often as my attention won't be in two places and you'll have time to get a fair amount of rest."

"I think I can live with that plan," Mercedes agreed, flashing a wry smile.

Alucard chuckled at her choice of words and phased through the wall to make his rounds.

Mercedes punched at the pillow beneath her head a few times to get it in a more comfortable position and then rest her head back down on it. Trying to keep her mind occupied from returning to her vision, she hummed along with Jack's singing as he accidentally frightened residents of Christmas Town in the course of his excitement of finding it.

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A/N: Sorry for the delayed update folks! My podling is starting a Cyber Charter School program this school year, our first year doing so, and I've had a lot of things to get sorted out to make certain everything is ready.

Thanks go to GirlWhoLovesFanfiction, who has been such a wonderfully loyal reader. I hope I'm not getting too predictable already! We'll have to see if I can surprise you yet. And thanks also go to new reviewer, Rosetta, for your encouraging review. Thanks!

That said, there's another chapter following this one, to make up for the missed week. Especially because this one is a little short and I'd feel bad leaving only it.


	16. Chapter 16 Digging into Iscariot Motives

Chapter Sixteen

Digging Into Iscariot's Motives and Plots

When Alucard returned a short time later, Mercedes was fighting to keep her eyes open and stay awake. She glanced up at the vampire as he phased through the wall behind the couch and pulled a light throw blanket from the back to rest over her.

" _Merci_ ," Mercedes said, stifling a yawn and snuggling beneath the blanket.

Alucard nodded and sat down on the chair.

After a few more songs passed in the movie, with Jack preparing to bring his own brand of Christmas cheer to the world, Alucard glanced over to Mercedes.

"You mentioned the other night that your son inherited some of your powers," Alucard commented as he lounged back further in the chair, crossing one long leg over the other.

" _Oui_ ," Mercedes replied sleepily. "I did. _Pour quoi_?"

"Did you inherit them from someone in your family? Or are you the first to have the power of a seer and empath?"

" _Ma mère_ was extremely intuitive, but she didn't have visions," Mercedes said, sitting up a little straighter where she was reclining and trying to wake her brain back up. She paused the movie so she wouldn't have to try talking over it. "She inherited it from her father's mother. I'm not sure how far back it goes from there."

"Was your great-grandmother a seer?"

"Trying to figure out a motive for Iscariot targeting us?"

"Something like that, yes," Alucard replied, glancing over at her with half-lidded eyes.

"My great _grandmère_ was not a seer either, to my knowledge. She died before I was born, so I don't know that definitively," Mercedes replied, trying to keep her voice stoic as she didn't like discussing this topic. "I just know I was named after her and she was said to be a very intuitive woman whom would always catch my _grandpère_ and his siblings at whatever mischief they were up to when they were little and had an uncanny sense of judgment when it came to people. My family is very religious and they don't like to talk about possible supernatural gifts as anything of that nature is considered evil in their eyes. The whole 'thou shalt not suffer a witch to live' thing."

"So you're the first seer in your family?"

"That I know of, yes."

"Where did you learn to read cards and control your inherited powers?"

"The card reading was my step-grandmother," Mercedes said. "She was a bit more open-minded than my biological family. Researching 'new age' stuff like card reading was a hobby of hers, but she wasn't very good at it. She thought perhaps it might be something I would be good at though, so when I'd visit her she gave me lessons on how to do so. We used playing cards as the minor arcana to teach me the meanings and layouts so _ma mère_ wouldn't find out what we were up to. She always just thought we were playing weird card games."

"That is how the tradition survived when tarot reading became illegal in some countries," Alucard commented with a faintly aggrieved tone.

"Indeed." Mercedes glanced over at the vampire with a mischievous smile. "I seem to recall reading in a number of places that a certain someone didn't care for gypsies when he was a human prince ruling a country. My, what nearly 600 years and your own supernatural powers have done for your tolerance, your majesty."

"Quite. And you should be glad for that," Alucard said darkly with flash of the canine revealing grin. "600 years ago I would have impaled you the moment you said you were a seer, regardless of evidence on the matter."

Mercedes held back a laugh and shook her head. She wasn't about to forget she had a very dangerous vampire sitting in her living room who was quite capable of doing such things if the mood struck him. One glance at that grin was enough to remind her. She was, however, starting to get a little used to his sadistic sense of humor. Mercedes wasn't going to push her luck, but she felt like she was at least getting better at picking up when he was being serious with his threats and when he was simply expressing said twisted humor.

"Anyway, my step-grandmother was right. Tarot readings work for me to channel my gift through. When I moved out on my own I found a deck I liked and I've kept up the practice."

"And learning to control your inherited powers?"

"Mostly on my own," Mercedes said, smile disappearing and she made her voice and expression as neutral as she could. " _Ma mère_ had a fit the first time I had a vision and it came true. My father was a military man, so he was somewhat more rational, but he was still almost as religious as _ma mère_ was. I quickly learned that unless I wanted to be subjected to medications and psychologists and the family priest making me sit through prayers that lasted for hours and be constantly apologizing to God for having somehow done something wrong to be cursed so, or alternately ordered to beg him for the strength to withstand the temptation of using a power derived from the devil, I should just keep my silence and try to deal with the visions or impressions I'd pick up from things on my own or be subtle in my attempts to avert them."

"Is that one of those things that you and your family agreed to disagree on in your later years since putting distance between you and them?" Alucard inquired neutrally, hellfire gaze somber as it stayed on Mercedes.

"No, actually," Mercedes said stonily, refusing to look at Alucard as she answered. "I eventually convinced everyone in my family besides _ma mère_ that I stopped having the visions. With trying so hard to suppress them, they stopped coming while I was awake and it was swept under the rug as a supposed childhood delusional psychosis and nightmares."

"Is there anything else that runs in your family that might make Iscariot wish to target you and your son?" Alucard persisted, tone remaining questioning but impassive.

"Not that I can think of," Mercedes said with a little less tension at the shift in questions. "And if Iscariot knows about my powers, which I guess it's safe to say they might, I don't know how they do. Like I said, my family doesn't talk about it. And the only people who know about my gifts outside my very immediate family- as in my parents, who are dead, my aunt and her husband, my favorite cousin, my step-grandmother, who is dead as well, and my grandparents- are you, my best friends Val and Darcy, my ex-husband, Liam and a couple other of our vampire friends. My fellow history buff friend, Luke, knows and I do actually trust him not to tell others; but his brother Jan doesn't as that'd ultimately be like broadcasting it on the six o'clock news. Besides Val and Darcy, none of my human friends know about my gifts, and even Darcy doesn't know about my hounds. Most friends just think I'm occasionally insightful beyond my years. I'm careful about who allow to know that information and those who do know I trust not to say anything to others."

"You said the priest your family went to knew about these visions."

"Yes, but he was old and has been dead from said old age for nearly 17 years."

"He still could have passed the information on and Iscariot may have been monitoring you from a distance to see if they would come back or you could be a threat somehow."

"Seems like they took their time in laying down the fire and brimstone witch-hunting if that's the case," Mercedes said wryly.

"If Iscariot has been keeping tabs on you all this time, it's only been more recently that you've been in contact with those they'd consider possible threats, like the local vampire community," Alucard replied logically. "And whatever is going on, you're only a piece of what Iscariot is up to. How did you become on positive terms with the local vampires? It's a bit of a jump to go from associating with an isolated pair of vampires like Fumiko and Tukiko, or having two vampires in your online gaming group who are exiled to the other side of the country, to associating in person with vampires like those that live here."

"Well, the lawyer I told you about who contacted me when Fumiko and Tukiko-san were murdered is a vampire," Mercedes explained. "Davin and his associates at the firm handle most all the business dealings for the vampires in this country who try to blend in with humans to help avoid conflicts with groups like Iscariot or Hellsing. One of those associates was Tukiko-san's creator whom he was still on friendly terms with even after becoming a true vampire. She came to visit Tukiko-san and Fumiko without giving a heads up one of the times I was with them."

"So she was your introduction to the local vampires after their deaths?"

"In a roundabout way." Mercedes held back a laugh that was actually not the least bit amused.

Alucard raised an eyebrow in question.

"Melisse was not so open-minded in her view of humans and vampires interacting. She was rather incensed that Tukiko-san was permitting me to spend time with himself and Fumiko. She made mention of the 'disgraceful' behavior she had witnessed when she got back to the firm. Melisse was apparently even more angry when she heard from Tukiko-san's lawyer upon their death that he had left the house and a portion of his finances to Xander and I. Davin said that Tukiko-san had made everything legally binding and it was his own choice. Melisse went to Liam in an attempt to go over Davin's head and complained about the legal proceedings. Liam likewise told her that, human or not, Tukiko-san had a right to do what he wanted with his estate in the event something had happened to him. He also told her that Davin was the Elder rightfully in charge of our area of the country and his word was law in this situation, and he wasn't going to get involved with affairs that were none of his concern and didn't threaten anyone. Melisse didn't like that very much and decided that, if the Elders weren't going to keep up propriety, she was going to try killing the human who was unworthy of having anything to do with one of her vampires."

"Obviously she failed as you're relating the story," Alucard said with a knowing smirk.

"Mhm," Mercedes said, a smile of her own playing at the edge of her lips. She patted the katana at her side. "She tried coming after Xander and I, and I killed the bitch."

"You sound rather proud of that," Alucard commented, smirk growing noticeably more amused. "Does killing Melisse fall under that Natural Order viewpoint of yours?"

"Indeed," Mercedes agreed candidly. "I don't like to kill. I won't kill someone without extreme provocation. But I do believe in self-defense and survival and I'm proud I can defend myself. I didn't know about all the stuff Melisse was trying to pull legally and with the Elders, and she was Tukiko-san's creator, but I never liked her much to begin with. I wasn't about to let her kill me as she clearly intended. It was the first time I had to kill someone and I was mightily thankful Tukiko-san had helped with my sword training as it quite literally saved my life. My wards back then weren't as complete or as strong as they are now. I could only slow down a vampire, not immobilize them. A silver edged sword might not hurt you, but slowing the bitch down, katana through the chest and then tanto through the eye and into the brain killed Melisse just fine."

"That explains one of the incidents you said you've had to use your wards and your katana," Alucard commented.

"The other was a vampire who thought I'd make a good dinner and made the mistake of following me home from work one night," Mercedes replied matter-of-factly, though she wasn't attempting to hide her proud smile anymore. "He wasn't near as much of a challenge as Melisse was."

"That doesn't explain how you became involved with the local vampires though," Alucard pointed out. "If anything, something of that nature would usually cause hostilities with her associates."

"Well, Davin got curious when Melisse didn't return to work and went investigating what happened to her," Mercedes explained, serious once more. "Given the uproar Melisse had made when Tukiko-san died, he figured it was a safe bet to start with me. I knew who Davin was by name and reputation because Tukiko-san had briefed me on the Elders, so I realized who it was at my door when he introduced himself. I told him what happened and he surprised me by taking it well enough, understanding I was acting in self-defense for my son and I. Davin basically said as long as I didn't make it a habit to go killing vampires, he'd leave me to my life out of respect for Tukiko-san and Fumiko. That's when I found out about Tukiko-san leaving the house and some of his finances to me and how Melisse reacted to it. We discussed the legal matters a bit and I signed some papers he had brought along with him. Davin inquired about the sword he had heard Tukiko-san had given me and we had a pleasant chat about favored weaponry. He left after that, cordially wishing me and my son well and to take care of Tukiko-san and Fumiko's gifts to us.

"When Davin got back from investigating what happened to Melisse, Liam inquired about the situation as he was likewise aware of Melisse's disappearance. Davin told him what happened. Liam was then curious about the human who had been friends with a couple of vampires and then killed an older vampire with relatively formidable powers like Melisse. The next thing I knew, I had two Elders at my door one night. Davin introduced Liam and said that Liam simply wished to speak about the situation and meet a friend of the belated. Liam and I got along fairly well, all things considered. We stayed in contact and eventually became close friends.

"After _ma mère_ died a few years ago, I decided I wanted to move someplace new and discussed possible areas with various friends who lived in those areas. Liam made the suggestion that Philadelphia might be someplace I'd be comfortable with. I decided that was a fair idea as I did have other human friends who moved to this city after high school, or in surrounding areas like Jersey and New York. I also knew my best friend Val and the area itself fairly well from when my ex-husband was stationed in Jersey for a time and we were living on base. So Liam, Davin, Sasha and Marrick came on up and helped me move everything down here, which was certainly a lot quicker and easier than if I had had to move things on my own, and now here we are. Since moving here, Liam and I have gone out to parties and events other Elders have invited him to, or I have been invited out when he has his own parties. As those events are hosted by vampires with mostly vampire attendees, I've gotten to know some of the other vampires in the area by association. I'm closest with Liam and Davin, but Marrick, Sasha and Denissa are also good friends that attend those outings."

"Marrick, Sasha and Denissa?

"Marrick is Liam's vampiric grandson and an Elder," Mercedes clarified. "One of Liam's vampires turned Marrick. Iscariot killed Fiona during the last attack they made almost three decades ago. Sasha is Davin's bride and is also an Elder. Denissa is an Elder and a friend of theirs who often hosts parties. It's usually events she's holding that Liam invites me to as she's rather more benevolent, as far as vampires go, when it comes to vampires and humans not viewing each other as exclusively predator and potential food."

"Seems an understandable chain of events," Alucard said with a nod. "And, those five aside, you've been comfortable going to such events though most of the attendees are vampires?"

Mercedes had to make an effort to keep from laughing at Alucard's cynical mindset as she could somewhat understand the viewpoint he was coming from. She well knew how some other foreign vampires were said to feel about the way things were approached in the United States, and not all local vampires cared for the Elders' rules.

"Yes. I'm generally not the only human in attendance at Denissa's parties, though I am in the minority," Mercedes replied. "Denissa is very strict about attendees behaving themselves and keeps a careful eye on everyone. Liam is also always watchful when we go as he doesn't want to see anything happen to me. Davin, Sasha and Marrick are also usually there and Liam has them likewise making sure no one is allowed to harm me. And in all the time I've known Liam, only one vampire has attempted to try anything and Liam made an example out of him so there'd be no repeats. I wasn't permitted to see what he did, nor did I really want to, but it apparently made an impression that stuck. Liam is the Elder of this area of the country and in good standing with the Elders who oversee other parts of the country. Most vampires who live here aren't foolish enough to get on his bad side, so if they don't like my presence just because I'm human they keep it to themselves. Honestly, I've had more trouble from human creepers at human clubs or events I go to with my best friend Val for the occasional girls' nights out than I have when I accompany Liam to a party."

"So while you have associations with the local vampires, including a well-connected Elder, it doesn't sound as though any of your vampire friends should be topping Iscariot's hit list as major threats compared to others in the United States," Alucard concluded. "Except, of course, for the fact that Iscariot really doesn't like that American vampires have formed a hierarchy and tend to congregate in major cities, rather than be more spread out and individualistic. Nor, besides being at events that are considered safest to bring a human and those five vampires, do you have extenuating ties to the vampires around here."

"Pretty much," Mercedes agreed. "I get along well enough with some of the other regular attendees. Usually the older vampires who are a bit more relaxed with vampire-human boundary lines. The older vampires recognize that being openly hostile with humans in an age when humans have advanced technology that can greatly aid their attempts to track and kill vampires isn't wise for long term survival. It's usually the relatively younger vampires that tend to be more uptight because they want to keep distance from reminders of what they once were, or are still having issues with controlling their blood lust and learning that just because some humans are food, doesn't mean you have to treat all humans like cattle. But those five are the ones I'd call close friends. And Denissa herself has a companion. Jacob doesn't have any powers like I have, but I'm not the only human that goes to the events."

"Interesting," Alucard said, though his tone wasn't all that expressive of interest. He did add, however, "Along with vampires here in The States congregating in major cities, it is also different from most other countries in how they sometimes interact with humans. Would you mind explaining what you mean when you say this Jacob is a companion of the vampire? I have heard the term used in a variety of ways here and elsewhere, but I have a feeling you mean it in a specific, significant manner."

"I do," Mercedes said hesitantly, "but I doubt my friends would be pleased if they somehow discover I divulged details of their lives outside of the general information of how I know them or things that most people around here know. There is a difference between telling intimate details of vampires who have had their undead existences ended and vampire friends who are still walking and talking."

"I am only questioning the terminology to make certain I properly understand the local dynamics," Alucard said with an impatient look leveled in the human's direction. "I'm not asking for specifics of their individual lives."

"From what I know of, most of the vampires here are fairly similar to vampires in other places," Mercedes answered after considering the matter. "Many of them rely on blood packs or simply drain a human and dispose of the corpse in such a way as to insure they will not reanimate. Leaving humans lying about to turn into ghouls is not considered permissible here as such draws attention to vampires. Or they'll turn the human if they have an attraction to the human and the human was a virgin. The Elders, however, have different standards in how they view various behavior and relationships given that they are the oldest vampires and collectively rule all vampires in this country. A companion can mean one of three things. A vampire who is not an Elder and not of the Elder's line who sometimes joins the Elder for some event. It can also mean a human for the same situation.

"When a human is referred to, or introduced as, specifically being an Elder's companion, it means that the Elder has an actual relationship with the human but cannot turn them. Either because the human isn't a virgin, or the human does not wish to be a vampire. The latter is a less likely reason, but Elders will not turn a human against their will. The human lives with the Elder and they bear a tattoo someplace easily visible with their Elder's sigil to signify they're under that Elder's protection as their companion. No other vampire is permitted to harm an Elder's companion, the Elder is responsible for their safety from nonvampiric threats as well, and they tend to behave much like any couple in a relationship. However, the human is still only viewed as a temporary partner for the duration of their mortal life and Elders may have consorts or a bride or husband along with having a companion. The other Elders will also not bother themselves to aid in protecting the companion unless they feel like it as a favor to the human's Elder, and the companion is not allowed to be made privy to anything the Elders discuss in private."

"Sounds like a glorified pet," Alucard remarked sarcastically.

Mercedes cast a glare in the direction of the progenitor of vampires and said sharply, "Some might think so, but is it in some ways really all that different from a traditional marriage? Some countries still allow a man to have multiple wives, but only his primary wife is given anything resembling proper rights, if she is lucky. Even in this country and with monogamous relationships, do you think a high-ranking general or CIA agent is allowed to tell his wife some top-secret mission about to be executed? Elders only bother to have a human as their companion when they genuinely care about the human and such restrictions are the price the human accepts for likewise being with someone they care for. The tattoo is more like a wedding ring bearing their spouses sigil than a pet collar.

"I can assure you, Denissa has never once treated Jacob and his daughter like her pets in any fashion and he is the only relationship Denissa is interested in for the duration of his life. If someone ever called them 'pets' to Denissa's face, or to Jacob, she would personally tear off their head without hesitation. And I know that for a fact because she did exactly that on one occasion some years ago when something similar was said in her hearing range by a vampire who had been invited to a party another Elder was holding. Even though that vampire was of some status here, the other Elders didn't so much as bat an eyelash about it because it was considered her right for the disrespect shown to her companion. Companions may not be viewed the same as a consort, or a bride or husband, but they're not treated as 'pets'."

"As you say," Alucard said noncommittally with a nod. "Any other classifications for human and vampire relationships among Elders?"

"Not as a standard. The Elders are rather obdurate in regards to protocol," Mercedes said with a shrug, trying to keep her tone less confrontational. "Otherwise, Elders have consorts or actual brides or husbands for relationships. Most vampires here are free to allow their fledglings to become full vampires in their own rights at the master's discretion, and said newly made true vampires could go off on their own if they choose. Elders and their fledglings made specifically for relationships are not. Consorts are those fledglings an Elder turns with the intent to have a relationship with them, whether it is simply sexual or actually romantic. Consorts must remain as a servant vampire so as to be under the constant awareness of the Elder to insure they do not become a liability. Besides being a vampire, and therefore seen as a permanent relationship, consorts are much the same as a companion when it comes to limitations in the relationship.

"Nor will an Elder have a vampire they did not create as anything more than an occasional companion to some social event or a bed partner for a night, as likewise that could be a liability. Such a vampire companion to events will not bear an Elder's sigil of any sort, though a human evening companion, especially one who is not a continuous and well known companion, will wear an accessory for events for their own safety to signify they are there by invite. Elders will also not have a vampire they made for anything besides a relationship become lovers, such as those made for additional manpower and allowed to become true vampires, for the same reasons as outside vampires. Because of that difference, and despite the limitations, committed companions or consorts in this country actually have more standing in the hierarchy than any true vampire who is not of an Elder's immediate line. In many cases, they have more standing than the true vampires their Elders created for non-relationship purposes.

"And an Elder will only release a consort from servitude and elevate them as their bride or husband if the consort has proven their worth over an extended period of time and the approval of the other Elders is given. The rightful spouse of an Elder is viewed on the same level as their Elder, even if they are not an Elder themselves. They are permitted to know what the Elder knows without reservations and the other Elders are honor bound to protect another Elder's spouse, even should the Elder die. So they have all the strict limitations in place and have to give the approval for such a union as a consort turned spouse could be a threat to everyone as they're no longer bound to be loyal to the Elder by anything except their own honor. One Elder currently has two brides, but he's the only one that I know of. Most Elders don't bother with multiple spouses, some of them simply have several consorts, as consorts don't need approval, are less of a potential threat to an Elder, and it's not as though a vampire needs to worry about securing a legitimate heir with a named spouse as a human ruler would."

"That doesn't sound terribly dissimilar to some ruling hierarchies, past and present, with mistresses, concubines or wives," Alucard said impassively.

"In some ways, not really."

"Given that you said Liam tends to be extremely protective of you at events you accompany him to, to the extent of making an example of a vampire who was bothering you, and others are asked to keep an eye on you; are you viewed by himself and the other vampires here as an occasional social companion of Liam's, or are you considered his companion in the sense you described?"

"Liam and I are friends," Mercedes replied briefly, irritated Alucard was prying into personal information again.

"That was said with a bit of haste, Seer," Alucard noted with a raised eyebrow, piercing gaze on Mercedes.

"Said quickly or not, it doesn't change the fact the seer is telling the truth," Mercedes said, returning the look with near as much intensity.

"The seer has also admitted she doesn't always answer a question entirely," Alucard said bluntly. "And she's done such with myself on more than one occasion."

"Why is this particular course of questioning relevant to the issues we're currently dealing with, Alucard?" Mercedes asked with no shortage of annoyance.

"Given what you've described of the vampiric social hierarchy here, if you're viewed as Liam's companion specifically, it could be entirely relevant to Iscariot's motivations," Alucard said without breaking the battle-of-wills staring match.

"Liam and I are close friends who deeply respect one another and spend time together, time that sometimes includes Xander, but I have never been Liam's companion in the specific way Jacob is Denissa's companion," Mercedes finally said with a clear, sharp tone of displeasure after several seconds of attempting to stare down Alucard and him not relenting. "The fact that we live here, rather than under guard in Liam's mansion, is evidence enough of that. So is the fact that I am obviously not bearing a tattoo of any sort. Companions like Jacob, just like a vampiric consort or spouse, aren't allowed to live apart from their Elder or leave their Elder. An attempt to do the latter will almost invariably lead to immediate execution of the one leaving because of the risk they present. Unlike human marriages, there is no divorce and going entirely separate ways with an Elder and a human is made clearly aware of that before making that commitment. Liam is very protective of anyone he comes to respect, friend or otherwise, as there are few outside the Elders that Liam finds worthy of truly respecting. The vampire who harassed me is not the only person Liam has killed to send a clear message of what happens when someone threatens those under his protection, and those other incidents didn't involve myself.

"Liam is an Elder. And he's not just any Elder. He founded the Elders and is acknowledged as the most powerful Elder. Even though the Elders collectively rule the other vampires in this country, and Liam generally doesn't step on their toes on matters, it's the worst kept secret in the vampiric community that what Liam says is taken as law with the other Elders. Any rules the Elders follow, past or present, are rules Liam made and demands be followed by the others. His position among the other Elders needs to be maintained in all fashions necessary if he is to keep it unquestioned. He will not allow anyone to think they can make any sort of move against him without retaliation being swiftly administered.

"It is part of how Liam and the other Elders keep lesser vampires in this country mostly in line, instead of things being at a constant risk of spiraling out of control and facing large-scale exposure. It is why this country doesn't have half the problems other countries do between humans and vampires. Most anyone who knows anything about Liam or the other Elders would be able to tell you all that. Just as they would tell you I am not his companion. Liam is known to have far closer associations, both personally and in business, human and vampires alike, than myself, and we've almost always tried to be discreet to avoid prying media attention neither of us care for. So, unless simply being known within the vampiric community as a human Liam is known to respect is worth being killed over, and killing my son by extension because Liam is also protective of Xander's wellbeing because he is my son, I strongly doubt a connection to Liam is why Iscariot is targeting us. Any personal details about Liam or our association beyond that are irrelevant to this conversation, so you can cease with this line of interrogation immediately."

"You seem distinctly upset by this turn in conversation, Seer," Alucard stated, gaze not relenting.

"Is it truly any wonder why to you, Alucard?!" Mercedes replied with an exasperated raised voice. "I don't enjoy having my own personal life under a microscope! Especially not as much as it has been tonight! I understand you are trying to figure out Iscariot's motivations, but handing over every little detail of my life from birth to current moment, and personal information of my family and friends' lives and our history with one another, even to an ally, is a rather acute invasion of privacy! One that you have continually pressed me to acquiesce to, without delays whenever you demand to know about something, since this all started and is not an easy pill to swallow.

"Not to mention, I could end up with my closest friends, some of whom I consider to be closer to me than my biological family, being extremely irate with me should they discover that I am not only working with you, even if the situation is life and death serious as it is, but that I was hiding such an event and association from them and was giving you information about themselves, no matter how general or minor that information was. As close as I am to my friends, and even with my powers that can aid in protecting me, I'm not foolish enough to want Elder vampires setting their sights on me if they were to decide the circumstances don't justify the means. I'd probably be dead inside 24 hours if the Elders deemed me a threat needing to be eliminated. You have also learned more about me in a matter of days than I allow most people in the span of years, but I have been trying to allow such as I figure turnabout is fair play because I already knew a fair bit about you from various sources and you are genuinely trying to help keep my son and I alive; so understanding one another and this situation is undeniably important if we are to have any sort of rapport with one another and be successful in sorting this mess out."

"Fair enough points," Alucard conceded impassively. "I suppose such detailed questioning in such a short span of time, even with reasons in doing so, can become frustrating for the one being questioned."

"Quite frustrating," Mercedes agreed, irritation better under control with the concession, as she realized that was probably the closest to an apology as she would ever get from him. The seer sighed wearily and asked, "So, does any of that help any theories you have, Alucard?"

"While information about your past and your family allows me to better understand your background, and the information from a native's viewpoint about the Elders does clarify the local dynamics of the vampires and humans here, and therefore what Iscariot may be looking at when they're planning whatever the hell it is they're plotting, it doesn't actually illuminate why they are targeting you and your son specifically for death, nor what the rats are up to at the Archdiocese. I have a number of theories; but none, even overlapping with others, fit the situation near properly enough to be concluded as the answer or answers."

"I'm sorry I couldn't be more help figuring this out," Mercedes replied tentatively. She was instantly concerned by the spike in bad mood she was picking up from the vampire as he answered. Especially as she was the nearest person for Alucard to take his aggravation out on if he was inclined to do so.

Alucard suddenly shifted his head to look at Mercedes with another scrutinizing look, eyes flaring a brighter hellfire red. "Actually… There may be a way for you to help solve this problem."

Hearing his contemplative tone of voice, Mercedes could almost imagine the comical cartoon light bulb appearing over the vampire's head, signaling an 'Ah ha!' moment, as she looked at him in confusion.

"How?" Mercedes asked warily, wondering if Alucard was going to resume prying into her life again.

"Your wards- immobilization, blocking senses, et cetera. They're enchantments that you utilize for protection from vampires for the most part."

"Yes…" Mercedes was still confused.

"One of the largest issues I have in attempting to find out what the catholic dogs are up to at the Archdiocese is they're using their magic tricks to block vampire senses," Alucard explained, annoyance not abating with the admission. "They're making it so that the only way a vampire- like myself, my servants or the local vampires- would be able to find out what they are doing previous to them unveiling it is by storming in there blind. We've had enough conflicts with one another that they've finally gotten smarter about how they proceed with their plots and found ways to better cover their tracks. While I could get into the Archdiocese itself easily enough and destroy every one of the rats, with the exception of perhaps Anderson, that unknown factor is why I have stayed my hand for the time being and not done so. You, however, are a human who creates and performs enchantments similar to theirs and therefore have some extensive knowledge of magic workings."

"True," Mercedes replied, starting to understand where Alucard's track of thought was going. "So you're hoping maybe I can help you bypass their wards or bring them down so you can finally know what they're up to for when you go inside; without you possibly dashing head long into a trap they may have laying inside in case of just such an action?"

"Smart Seer," Alucard said with a toothy grin.

"There's just one very large problem with that idea, Alucard," Mercedes said ruefully.

Alucard's grin disappeared just as quickly as it had appeared. "And that would be?"

"For me to be able to do so, I would need to be near the Archdiocese so I can figure out what the wards are specifically and therefore how to deal with them," Mercedes explained. "Not all wards are created the same, even if they serve the same function. Depending on how extensive the wards are, and if the person who created them is in the building, there is a slight chance they could become aware of someone prodding at them. I doubt that latter concern would happen as I know what I'm doing. But Iscariot wants me dead, so they obviously know what I look like. If I go waltzing up anywhere near the Archdiocese, that's like handing myself over on a silver platter."

"How close would you have to be to the Archdiocese to be able to sense their wards and figure out if you can find a way around them?" Alucard asked, not sounding concerned with that obstacle holding up the process.

"If the wards are extensive enough to keep the senses of a vampire like you out," Mercedes replied thoughtfully, considering the issue, "then they've probably got a fairly strong resonance and I wouldn't need to be in physical contact to sense the specific magic. I could probably do it from a hundred to a couple hundred feet away. Wouldn't know exact distance until I'm there."

"And how long would it possibly take for you to decipher what the wards are?"

"Um…" Mercedes needed a little longer to think about that. "If it's something like what I use or have familiarity with, which from the sounds of it, it likely is, I'll be able to recognize it almost immediately. If it's enchantments of natures I'm not familiar with, it could be upwards of a couple minutes to several minutes, depending on just how unfamiliar it is or how complex it is. That doesn't include figuring out how to get around it."

"You could figure out how to get around it once clear of the Archdiocese," Alucard pointed out. "I'm ascertaining how long you'd need to be close to a dangerous zone to obtain the needed information given the circumstances."

"Still leaves someone from Iscariot spotting me standing nearby for possibly several minutes trying to figure out what sort of enchantments they're using," Mercedes said with no shortage of apprehension.

Alucard gave the enchantress a look filled with dark amusement. His smirk was present as he asked, "Do you honestly forget that quickly who you're speaking with, enemy of my enemy?"

Mercedes gave the progenitor of vampires a questioning look, wondering what sort of plan he clearly had in mind.

"Are you coherent enough right now to be able to do such surveillance of their wards?"

"Now?!" Mercedes asked in surprise.

"Yes, now," Alucard replied, chuckling at her response. "There's no time like the present and the sooner a way past Iscariot's defenses are found, the sooner I can finally flush those rats out of their nest and perhaps avert the vision you had altogether in the process. Your son is in a hypnotic sleep, so you don't have to worry about him waking up and wondering where you are. I'll check again before leaving for any sign of Iscariot and leave my own hounds here to protect the boy. I can have the both of us at the Archdiocese in a matter of minutes and be back just as quickly. Should Iscariot make their move during that small window of time we are gone- which is a very unlikely probability as it is still hours away from dawn when you saw the vision taking place and I will make sure they're not currently in the area- we would already be at their base and see them leave. Or if they had left the Archdiocese before our arrival and we somehow didn't cross paths with them, my dogs would be able to protect the boy from the Catholic rats long enough for us to return and join the fight, as I would know through my familiars the moment they caught sign of Iscariot approaching. We won't be gone long according to your own estimates of how long surveillance of their wards will take, and the night is still fairly early, so if we leave now you'll have plenty of time to nap between returning and dawn. If the attack doesn't come at dawn, you should then have at least 24 hours to evaluate and figure out how to get around their wards."

Mercedes was not all that keen on the idea of leaving her son alone in the middle of the night, even for such a short time. Not least of all because there was Iscariot to worry about and only the hounds would be left to protect him. She hung her head with a sigh of frustration. Despite her reservations, Mercedes was actually considering the idea because she did have to admit the plan was fairly well thought out, even if done so quickly.

'There's that infamous strategist side again that I've read about,' Mercedes thought wryly.

Out loud, the young woman asked, "Before I agree or disagree to this plan, Alucard, how are you thinking of getting us there so quickly and how are you going to avoid Iscariot spotting us? Concerns over Xander's safety fairly well addressed, and I do appreciate that you factored that into the equation, we still have to worry about Iscariot seeing what we're up to. It's late on a Thursday evening, so the streets in that area will be fairly deserted and it'd be even more conspicuous for someone to be seen standing in the vicinity of the Archdiocese. Even if I posed as a Muslim, as this city has a large population, and wore a burka to hide my features, which might stand out all the more near a Catholic building given the religious tensions here, they'd still see me and might see the energy work I'm doing to decipher their wards."

"Such a disguise is not necessary, but at least you're attempting to think outside the box," Alucard said with a taunting grin. "You need to think a little further, however, as you also have a vampire, the first and the most powerful to ever exist, in point of fact, to factor into the strategy. Do you need to be standing on the street to do what you need to do, Seer? Or do you just need to be within a hundred or so feet of the Archdiocese?" The progenitor of vampires placed emphasis on the title of 'Seer' to make certain she considered the question from the proper mindset.

"Just near enough to the Archdiocese," Mercedes conceded. Her curiosity was now piqued. She recognized the difference in options from how they were phrased, even if she wasn't sure what Alucard was thinking. "Nothing says I need to be standing or on the street."

"How do you feel about heights?"


	17. Chapter 17 Enchantments & Tempers Crack

Chapter Seventeen

Enchantments and Tempers Cracked

Mercedes didn't usually consider herself to be afraid of heights.

She agreed to go along with Alucard's plan after hearing him out on what he had in mind; judging the risks in the process of getting a better idea of what Iscariot was planning, possibly even stopping them entirely, to be lesser than just waiting around for Iscariot to show with guns blazing and bayonets slashing.

However, Alucard had conveniently not mentioned a few key details to his plan.

Now Mercedes was wondering about her decision, along with wondering if her sanity might be MIA.

Alucard had indeed checked the area for signs of Iscariot and left half a dozen of his demonic familiars behind at the house and in the shadows around the neighborhood to keep watch for Iscariot approaching. Shadowsnake was sent up to the roof to remain watchful as ordered on previous occasions. Mercedes also again summoned up Artemis, named after the Greek goddess of the hunt and patron guardian of children because she was the hell hound who was most protective of Xander, to likewise keep watch for added peace of mind.

Then Alucard had shifted into a shadow, wrapped said shadowy self around Mercedes and scooped her off the ground bridal style, and took off like a dark arrow out of the apartment.

Mercedes had failed to completely smother a scared scream as he phased the both of them through the wall. Which gave the vampire no end of amusement at her expense. It was extremely eerie (even after all the other things the enchantress had seen in her life) to see taunting, glowing hellfire eyes and hear manic chuckles from all around the dark shadowy cloud enveloping herself.

Alucard had mockingly pointed out that his guns were solid objects not himself, yet he could manipulate them to go through the wall, so she obviously likewise wasn't going to slam into it as long as he was willing her to phase through with him.

Mercedes had pointed out that she could manipulate inanimate objects with her barriers, but not living creatures, and she was not fully aware of the extent of his powers, so she had no way to know that.

Alucard had told her that she should not make assumptions about his powers based on lesser examples and reminded her once more that they were allies, so knocking her unconscious when there was work to be done would be counterproductive.

Mercedes was still not amused with his little prank as she had thought he'd wait for her to walk outside (as he had given the impression he would be doing) before travel to the Archdiocese commenced.

Also, said speedy travel was taking place hundreds of feet above the buildings of Philadelphia rather than staying nearer to the ground.

With nothing but the gravity-defying shadowy form of Alucard supporting Mercedes above the city and hiding her from sight within said shadow as it blended with the night sky seamlessly.

Which was admittedly an efficient way to travel quickly and undetected. But, assurances of not killing a useful ally (at least not for the time being) aside, the idea of there being nothing but the temperamental vampire's will to keep her from a long drop and a sudden messy stop was none too comforting. Mercedes could faintly feel a pair of arms around her back and underneath her legs, and a neck that her arms were wrapped around, and she could sense Alucard's presence in the midst of the shadows surrounding herself. Otherwise, she was floating in a shadow that felt no more solid than air itself. And she could also occasionally feel a faint wind and see quick flashes of lights from buildings below that managed to peep through the shadows.

Mercedes realized then that there was a big difference in whether heights scare you or not when comparing a shadow manifestation of a vampire flying you over a city and something like being on an airplane with solid steel all around you or looking out the window of a skyscraper with your feet firmly on the floor and seeing the streets below through sturdy shatterproof glass.

Alucard was thankfully not pulling any further pranks, such as perhaps letting her drop several feet and then catching her again. He was, however, still quietly laughing with a great deal of entertainment over her extreme discomfort over this mode of travel and the fact that she refused to open her eyes after catching a few peeks of the city below.

If the vampire hadn't been in an insubstantial form as he was and holding her life quite literally in his hands, Mercedes would have gladly made every effort to beat the smirk off Alucard's face and silence his teasing laughter and comments, despite whatever state of fatigue she was in and if such efforts might be futile given who he was.

They neared the Archdiocese in under three minutes. In this form, the progenitor of vampires could easily move far faster than even the direct train line Mercedes usually took with her son to get into Center City to avoid the extra travel time by car or bus on the congested highways and side streets with a small, short attention span, child in tow. And while he was seemingly no more than a shadow, Alucard was extending his energy in such a way to keep Mercedes from being exposed to the buffeting air as he darted over the city.

When they were still several blocks away from the Archdiocese, Alucard finally ceased his laughter and taunting and greatly slowed down their travel.

Mercedes shifted her energy and kept her psychic senses open, searching out for sign of the magical wards Iscariot had in place so Alucard wouldn't need to bring them any closer to the building than necessary.

The plan was that they were going to remain hovering far above the roof, which did not sport sky-lights like a lot of the more modern surrounding skyscrapers did. Unless Iscariot had operatives on the roof to keep watch, which they hadn't in past surveillance Alucard had made because there wasn't any direct access from the roof into the building, and unless those operatives could somehow spot Alucard's shadowy form hidden in the night, and somehow see through that to see Mercedes hidden within, Iscariot would never know they were there.

So it was in fact a brilliant strategy, if Mercedes was willing to give Alucard credit.

That didn't make the experience any less terrifying.

Mercedes was able to sense the magic surrounding the Archdiocese when they were still a good three-hundred feet away. She was keeping her mind open to the vampire enough to communicate silently and alerted him they were in range.

Alucard stopped moving and kept them suspended midair above the building. He shifted the angle they were at in relation to the ground and the shadows thinned out in a small space, almost as though forming a tinted window, so that Mercedes could see the building directly. Alucard was behaving himself and staying silent and out of the seer's mind unless she prompted conversation, as he knew as much as the enchantress did that pranks, interference or distractions could cause her to make a serious mistake and expose their reconnaissance attempt.

After several seconds of attempting to steel her nerves and calm a small spike of panic, Mercedes opened her eyes… and then let out a terrified gasp, tense body momentarily going slack with shock, as she could now see not only the building but the entire block stretched out far below her. She could imagine the vampire somehow losing his ethereal grip on her and tumbling to her death below, smashing into one of the buildings maybe, or crashing into the pavement. Her eyes slammed shut again as her head ducked down and her arms automatically tightened even further around the vampire's neck than before.

" _Fou-le-camp_!" Mercedes murmured in terror, shaking her head vigorously, her words spilling out in French. "I cannot do this!"

Alucard replied in her mind, voice sounding mildly annoyed, "You'll be fine, Seer. I thought you said you weren't afraid of heights?"

" _Non_!" Mercedes retorted loudly in her mind, words still in French, her head shaking more and her body beginning to tremble. "I did not think I was afraid of heights, but this has proven me quite wrong! I will not be fine! This is too high up and I'm surely going to fall! Please take us down?!"

"Seer, you're not going to fall, I will not allow it," Alucard said sternly. "I haven't allowed you to fall this entire time. Be rational."

Mercedes still shook her head, voice becoming more panicked "I think I would rather swim the entirety of the Atlantic without any aid or rest than be up here! Bring me down, please, Alucard!"

A shadowy tendril of energy wrapped itself beneath Mercedes's chin and forced her to lift her face. "Open your eyes, Seer." Mercedes continued to shake her head. Alucard demanded in the collected tone of a military commander expecting his orders to be obeyed, "Mercedes, open your eyes and look at me."

The vampire's voice cut through Mercedes's mind and she slowly opened her eyes, almost against her will with the force the Vampire King had put behind the command and with her mental defenses lowered to enable telepathic communication. She had to blink back tears she hadn't realized were forming. Hellfire eyes were just a few inches away from her face, with the rest of Alucard's face just visible amongst the shadows. His expression was stonily impassive as he gazed down at her.

"I am not going to allow you to fall," Alucard's resolute voice snaked through her mind, his lips unmoving, as he stared into currently brown eyes. "And the longer you take to pull yourself together, the longer we're away from your son. So trust me to do my part in this and you do your own damned part. Immediately."

Mercedes took a gulp of air. The reminder of her son being alone except for the familiars pierced through some of her panic. But she still couldn't seem to manage to turn her head towards the building she was supposed to be scanning, still frozen in place from fear. She tried taking a few more breaths to steady herself, but she found it hard to get her thoughts back in order.

"This is one occasion where you do not need be concerned with how you could possibly manage to pick yourself up from a fall, Mercedes," Alucard said with less of an edge to his voice. "I will not allow you to fall."

Mercedes could sense that the progenitor of vampires was serious in his statement, there was an intense conviction radiating from him and into her mind at the moment. An intensity that was as reassuring as it was confusing, as his entire aura of emotion radiated that he would protect her. She couldn't begin to fathom why he'd concern himself that much with her wellbeing in this moment, except that harm coming to her would cause them to lose this chance to gain potentially useful information. Mercedes felt her trembling slow down and she took another gulp of air. She asked in English, needing to hear the confirmation, "Alucard, can you promise me you're not going to drop me?"

"I swear it," Alucard said without hesitation, inscrutable expression not changing and his aura remaining a beacon of unwavering security. "We're completing this and then I'm bringing you safely back to your son. I am not going to drop you or allow any harm to come to you during this."

Strangely enough, at least strange to Mercedes, that promise did help continue calming her panic. She closed her eyes and took a few more fortifying breaths, forcing her fear to recede and calm to return.

"Ready?" Alucard asked after a minute of the enchantress working to calm herself.

Mercedes nodded once and opened her eyes again, the irises back to being golden, once more in control of herself.

Alucard nodded his head towards the building and then his face melted into shadows, leaving behind crimson eyes that were still keeping watch.

Mercedes turned her face in that direction after a final deep breath, forced herself to concentrate only on the building below and blur out the surrounding area in her mind, and began the task at hand. She slowly removed her right arm from around the mostly-incorporeal neck it was currently around, though the other stayed rigidly in place, and held her hand out, palm facing down and towards the building.

Concentrating on sensing the energy of the magic itself, Mercedes carefully sent her own unfiltered energy down through her outstretched palm, looking like a barely visible indigo thread of fishing line. Extending her energy in such a delicate fashion was both to keep from wasting it and to minimize of the chances of anyone sensing it, as they could possibly do if she were to radiate out much higher levels of energy close to the wards. As her spider-silk-thin line of energy drew closer, vibrations of the magic in Iscariot's wards began to resonate passively beneath her power that was only observing from a short distance, not seeking to breech Iscariot's defenses. Those vibrations traveled up her thread of energy and Mercedes began sensing them out to figure out the specific wards Iscariot was using.

The enchantress immediately picked up the expected intentions of blocking vampiric-enhanced physical sight and hearing, along with blocking their psychic sight. There was another vibration that was different, though. Mercedes had to concentrate on that intently to try deciphering it as it had a magical resonance she wasn't familiar with.

At least, not at first.

After nearly a minute, Mercedes finally recognized it as being in fact two separate but similar vibrations that were intertwined to work together. One was something she immediately identified once separated in her mind from the other. It was an enchantment to slow a vampire's physical movements, though it wasn't able to stop them entirely. The other took more concentration to decipher, but it wasn't more than twenty seconds before Mercedes realized what she was sensing. It was an enchantment to damper a vampire's ability to tap into their demonic powers. Which would consequently slow their ability to regenerate more serious injuries like lost limbs, or make it more difficult to shape shift or summon familiars.

Mercedes continued sensing Iscariot's wards and couldn't find any other magical resonances, which meant the enchantments weren't going to alert the one who created them of any intrusions.

Which was sloppy, to say the least, and served to improve Mercedes's mood marginally.

'So, let's see exactly how the catholics constructed their wards,' the pagan priestess thought to herself impishly. She turned her attention to the vampire and asked mentally, "Alucard?"

"Yes, Mercedes?" Fiery eyes suspended in shadows met her gaze.

"How good is your memory?"

"Literally picture perfect," Alucard answered honestly, having the feeling the seer wouldn't ask without a legitimate reason under the circumstances. "Why?"

"It's relatively safe for me to make the magic reveal the visible symbol or symbols it was cast with, which will make it infinitely easier to plan how to get around it. There are multiple enchantments, though, and I am not certain if they will appear as a single cohesive ward or separate individuals. I don't want to linger too long with revealing the magic. Even if they don't have a magical alarm to let them know the ward is being revealed or traps set to spring for attempting to do so, depending on how brightly the ward reveals itself and if their operatives can see such power, we could alert them to an intrusion. Anderson at the very least could notice, as you said he performs enchantments and blessings, if he happens to be someplace where he could catch sight of the glow. Would you be able to also watch what appears so that when we get back you can give a quick sketch to be certain I don't possibly miss any details?"

"Certainly." The glowing red eyes shifted to watch below.

Mercedes shifted the thread of indigo energy that was suspended above the building to send a precise continuous vibration of her own along the edges of the magic. A faint red glow began to issue from above the building where the enchantment stretched out to the edges of its barrier.

As Mercedes's power continued to vibrate along it, a massive circle began to form within that energy. A star, much to the pagan priestess's derisive amusement at the stereotypical fallback, began to form within the circle to complete a pentacle. A single circle of magical script, written in Theban, surrounded the pentacle. A Futhark rune lay in the spaces between each point of the star and the circle surrounding it, repeated once per space. There was likewise a Futhark rune in each of the five triangles that made up the pentacle's points, those were different from one another, and Iscariot's symbol was in the pentagram formed in the center of the star.

Mercedes knew all these symbols, and their meanings, so they were easy to commit to memory and she was fairly certain such a simple image would stick in her mind. Even still, she asked Alucard, "Got it memorized?"

"Without trouble," was the confident response.

Mercedes let the vibrations still and the symbol faded away. She carefully retracted the energy she had sent down to inspect the magic.

When it returned to her, Mercedes gave a sigh of relief and returned her arm back around Alucard's neck. She glanced up at the hellfire eyes and gave a pleased smirk as she sent the thought, "I'm done here. Let's get back."

"Hold on tight." And with that brief warning, the vampire was speeding them back to Mercedes's apartment and son.

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All was silent at the apartment when they reached it. Alucard went through the wall once more, but Mercedes was a bit more prepared for the phasing and didn't scream, nor stiffen nearly as much in fear. Alucard deposited Mercedes on the couch (with a surprising gentleness compared to the abrupt way he initiated the travel) and then shifted back into his normal corporeal self.

Mercedes was thankful that Alucard had also refrained from bringing up her little panic attack on the way back, as she herself was surprised by how frightened she had become. Usually, the only thing that could make her feel such anxiety was water, as she had had a near drowning experience due to her own stupidity as a preteen that had traumatized her. Anything more than a kiddie pool she'd refuse to go near. She had even stopped flying over the ocean to visit family in France, where the incident occurred; at least until Liam had teased her into going with him to his estate by saying if he, a vampire who truly had to worry about death by immersion in deep water, could make the trip in his jet without concern over the travel, she surely could. That had struck at her pride enough to be willing to make the flight; even if she needed to drink a bottle of wine ahead of time, and be drinking throughout the flight, to help keep her sedate. Mercedes was deeply embarrassed with her temporary loss of control tonight, as it was something she strived not to have happen and thought that she knew herself better than that.

The hounds that had been summoned by both disappeared once they were in the apartment. Before Mercedes could make the request, the vampire took one of the many pens laying around the apartment and sketched out the symbol they had seen.

"What is Iscariot working with for enchantments?" Alucard asked for the report as he handed the sketch to Mercedes.

Mercedes had to hold back a mocking laugh in regards to Iscariot as she glanced at the ward. She held the symbol up to Alucard and instructively pointed to each triangular point the star made within the ward.

"The enchantment is comprised of five elements. Block vampire sight, slow vampire physical movement, block vampire hearing, dampen vampire's ability to tap demonic power, block vampire psychic senses."

"So the wards weren't just to stop senses for those outside the building," Alucard said with a raised eyebrow.

"Nope. You were right to be cautious as there is at least this trap, plus whatever is inside the building that they want to hide, and whatever possible non-magical traps they might have and the operatives you know of to protect it." Despite the magical trap, Mercedes was still not the least bit impressed with Iscariot's work. She finished explaining the enchantment, pointing to the repeated rune between the triangles, "That ties the five directive enchantments together as ultimately one enchantment to enact them simultaneously." She pointed to Iscariot's symbol, "That ties it to the building." She pointed to the Theban script, "That is the triggering enchantment itself that will activate the five directives should you, or any vampire, step foot past the barrier protecting the building."

"I'll assume you are smirking because you know enough about enchantments to know how to get around or dismantle this ward," Alucard stated, not near as amused as the human at what he learned of the enchantment. He understood, perhaps better than the human as he was better acquainted with Iscariot and Anderson, how troublesome such an enchantment could be, even for himself. The disabling anti-vampire enchantment was surrounding the entire building like a giant bubble, making it a defense more helpful to Iscariot against one such as himself than an actual armored bunker would be.

"To say the least…" Mercedes had to hold back a laugh again. "It is a good idea in theory, but Christians just don't understand the proper meanings for magical symbols, Futhark Runes and other ancient scripts from pagan cultures. For starters, they used a pentacle. While convenient in its five points for five directives and a circle encircling them to help contain the spells, it was actually inappropriate for this sort of magic. Pentacles are symbols of the elements and balance, and to some extent the singular human form when it pertains to keeping balance within itself and with nature. This enchantment is meant to unbalance a vampire, who is decidedly not bound to a singular form and the elements, at least not in the traditional and natural sense for the latter." Mercedes's brow furrowed in thought and she added, "In theory, if they wanted to try binding you in a sense of making you more human, not just disconnecting you from your powers, they could have used the pentacle, but the enchantments would have had to been ones of entirely different natures than these and the placements would have had to be different."

"Moving on, Seer," Alucard said with a note of impatience, not wanting her keen mind to linger on that particular path of thought because Hellsing had used a pentacle in the enchantment to bind him to them and he didn't want her to get any ideas.

Mercedes nodded. "Sorry, got sidetracked with overanalyzing. Tends to happen when I'm discussing magic. Theban Script," she pointed to the symbols circling the pentacle, "does mostly have equivalents to the Anglo-Saxon alphabet, but it's not meant for the English or Latin languages, they used Latin biblical invocations, and is weakened by doing this cross-over crap they have. They'd have been better off writing the enchantment in English or Latin with the proper alphabet or likewise using the Theban alphabet with its native language. Their bastardized interpretations leave weak spots in the enchantments because they're not formed and tied together correctly. Not to mention they run the risk of accidentally writing out something unrelated and ruining the spell if the symbols happen to correspond to a word in Theban. They didn't this time, but the point is still there. I first researched the Theban alphabet while going to the Academy my parents sent me to and, while I know enough of the word combinations in its native language to create certain enchantments properly, I generally only use it for writing in a cipher I created to pass notes with friends that teachers wouldn't be able to read if they were intercepted."

Alucard was now looking at Mercedes with an equal mix of appalled disbelief and amusement. "You used an ancient magical alphabet as a cipher for passing trivial notes?"

"Yes," Mercedes admitted, unabashed. "I'm a hopeless puzzle junkie. Foreign languages and enchantments make a very good outlet for that, and so did coming up with the cipher. As long as it was only being written casually, with no effort used to draw in magic, it was harmless. It's about the only practical use for a dead language's alphabet these days."

"I see." There was a small smirk forming as Alucard shook his head. He gestured to the sketch he had drawn and said, "Back to your analysis of their ward, little mouse."

Mercedes rolled her eyes but did as asked. "The last thing of note is that the runes they're using are solely from the younger Futhark, which was a simplified form of the Elder script when Christianity ran out Scandinavian pagan religions and wanted to convert the alphabet to something they recognized. There's a very significant problem with them doing so, however. Runes have a phonetic equivalent for everyday speech and then a second, more complex, meaning for magical usage. That latter is also usually bastardized by Christians to fit with their theology, including in this ward, based on what little they were able to understand from the pagans they stole the symbols from. It was also intentionally corrupted information to begin with, as the pagans were smart enough to know how dangerous such information could be in the wrong hands. They only have a sliver of an understanding to the magic they're trying to call upon, which greatly weakens it. Iscariot is also only using single runes as representations of their intent for each section of the ward, rather than a linked combination of runes." Mercedes gestured to the willow staff leaning in a corner, which had a complex rune stave carved down it.

Alucard looked at the staff curiously but didn't ask for the time being as the enchantress was continuing her explanation of what they were dealing with.

"Which again means the runes being used are directing the magic, but they're not entirely compatible with the ward they want and so it's not strengthened to the best effect. While they're somehow powering the ward to stay active continuously, which I would need to see that grounding object directly to know how, they're only creating a barrier that is, magically speaking, as substantial as a plaster wall, instead of bricks and steel like it could have been."

"So what does my infinitely more knowledgeable pagan enchantress need to do to deal with this simple Catholic ward?" Alucard asked in a sultry tone, clearly humoring Mercedes's ego for the moment as she was helping deal with this problem he had been stalemated by.

Mercedes did give a small laugh then. She replied in the same teasing fashion, in a good humor herself as surveying Iscariot's ward had been far less problematic than she had thought it would be and having hope that they may yet entirely avert the disaster she had foreseen. "Well, that depends entirely on your desire, my mighty Vampire King who will be effected by the ward. Do you simply wish to be able to sense what is inside to get a better idea of what they are up to, or do you want the ability to also enter and have the enchantments fail to effect you entirely?"

"Obviously the latter is preferable," Alucard said more seriously, though his smirk lingered. "Can you do it?"

"Oh, I can do it," Mercedes said with certainty, her own grin widening. "I could even tear the whole gods damned enchantment down, regardless of access to whatever is grounding it, but that would immediately alert them to tampering. Not to mention I'd have to be near the Archdiocese again. Ally or no, it's bad enough they'll be coming here to attack. I'm not wanting to go visiting them at their home base again if I can help it. So, for the more subtle approach that allows for the element of surprise, all I need to do is create a counter-enchantment to act as a barrier and place it within a physical object you can keep in your possession. So long as you're wearing or carrying said object, the magic of Iscariot's ward won't be able to reach you to effect you."

"So this barrier enchantment is made in a similar process to that necklace of yours," Alucard observed.

"Similar process, yes. But different enchantments," Mercedes replied bluntly. "So don't get any ideas that the protective ward I'd make for you would work on my spells."

"I was only commenting on the process," Alucard said dryly. "It didn't cross my mind that you would be foolish enough to hand over immunity to whatever enchantments you have protecting yourself."

Mercedes nodded in agreement, smirk not disappearing.

"What physical form does this counter-ward need take and how quickly can you have it created?"

Mercedes considered the vampire's question for a few moments and then asked for clarification, "When you shift forms, from say as you are now to shadows, does everything shift with you? Or are things like your clothes and weapons suspended in the shadows as I was? At any point do they lose contact with the form?"

"My clothing is simply an extension of my will so they shift with me automatically, regardless of what form I take," Alucard said with a sly smirk. "Something like my weapons, which were made by human creation rather than my will, I have to make the conscious effort for them to shift with me. But they will shift and they stay in contact with me regardless of form. I could have also shifted you into a shadow state, but I doubted that you would have been receptive of that, and therefore unable to properly function in such, so I left you as you are."

Mercedes paused to consider that. She appreciated Alucard hadn't gone and turned her into a shadow while carrying her, especially without warning, as that would indeed have made her truly panic.

Then Mercedes realized the vampire had also told her that he was only wearing clothes because he felt like appearing so and made them materialize, but they weren't 'real' clothes in the same sense his guns were real.

Mercedes gave Alucard a not-very-amused look and the vampire's smirk became more taunting as it was obvious she belatedly caught on to his implication.

"You, your majesty, are a powers of darkness deviant," Mercedes deadpanned. She did ask for the specifics of how he shifted, though, even if she assumed clothes and guns were in the same category. That explained the easily disappearing and reappearing hat and jackets.

Alucard just gave his typical manic chuckle as a response.

Mercedes sighed and added dryly, "I suppose that explains why you're almost always wearing the same outfit. And it must save on the wardrobe bills when you're so often getting yourself into fights and would otherwise destroy your outfits."

"That is one of the advantages, but there are others," Alucard replied with a teasing smirk.

Mercedes looked down and shook her head with a smile, not deigning to answer the suggestive remark with any other response.

"How long will it take for you to make this counter-enchantment?" Alucard asked with a return of the "business-first" tone.

Before Mercedes could respond to that, Alucard's cell phone started ringing.

Mercedes glanced in the vampire's direction curiously. She had seen him use a cell phone before to call Walter, and knew he carried guns, but it was still strange to think of the progenitor of vampires using something as modern yet mundane as a cell phone. At least it was a standard ringtone and not some obnoxious, off key, short blip of a song or movie.

Alucard pulled the phone from his jacket with a raised questioning eyebrow in Mercedes's direction as she tried to hold back a giggle.

"Yes, Walter?" Alucard asked after accepting the call.

"It's not Walter, it's Seras, Master. I just arrived at the manor," a rather friendly and perky female voice could be heard on the other end.

"Ah. I was expecting your call a few hours ago, Police Girl. Was there some problem with your flight?"

"The departure was a little delayed due to weather conditions, but it was otherwise uneventful," Seras replied. "Then I had to bring Pip back to the flat before meeting with Walter. Master, may I ask why you need me waiting here with Walter? He didn't give me much information beyond you were still in The States, there was still not much known of Iscariot's plans, and you weren't sure when you were returning."

"I'm touched, Police Girl. I didn't realize my presence would be missed so soon after your return."

Alucard spoke with quite a bit less biting mockery than Mercedes often heard him using, though he was still being plenty sarcastic.

"Master! I'm being serious!" Seras insisted. "What the devil is going on? You said before you left that you'd only be gone a few days."

"Yes, I did say that," Alucard agreed wryly. "And then I arrived here and there has been a few unforeseen complications in my plans."

"Gee, thanks. Glad to be referred to as a complication now," Mercedes muttered sarcastically. "Few minutes ago I was the useful ally helping your undead ass against the mutual enemy."

"Who was that, Master?" Seras immediately asked, her vampiric hearing just picking up on Mercedes's quiet side commentary.

"That was only a little mouse who has forgotten how to be silent," Alucard replied with a pointed look in Mercedes's direction.

"Ah, I see how it is," Mercedes replied in a normal volume. A mischievous smile was quickly forming as she finally saw an accidental, but opportune, opening for a little respective payback that she had promised for his behavior at the bar and when she had been on the phone with Val. "You can show up at my job and make your presence clearly known to my coworkers as my charming suitor, and have my best friend questioning why you are here late at night, but the gods forbid one of your servants so much as hear my voice and wonder about you being with a woman in the middle of the night."

"Her suitor?!" Seras immediately exclaimed on the other end. "Master, you went to The States to handle Iscariot and now you're courting a woman? And you chastise me for losing the slightest bit of focus on assignments or for supposedly mixing business and pleasure by seeing Pip!"

In the background, Walter could just be heard asking in consternation, "Miss Seras, did you just say Master Alucard is courting a woman?"

"Yes, I did!" Seras replied to Walter, her voice more than audible in her excitement. "He's apparently even been to her work and met people she works with under the introduction of being her suitor!"

"While it is hardly appropriate to be gossiping about Master Alucard's private affairs, especially as he's still on the phone, Miss Seras, I think it only fair to ask for the sake of clarity if this the same young noble lady who is a lead in the issue with Iscariot? Are we to be expecting additions to the household and that is why he wished for us to both remain at the manor for the time being?"

"How the bloody hell should I know, Walter?! I just got back and have been on the phone with Master less than two minutes! What noble lady do you mean? And what do you mean 'additions'?! He's not thinking of starting a harem again, is he?! I thought Master had said that had been a rather annoying arrangement to maintain once the novelty wore off? Oh never mind, I'll ask him myself." Seras's next question immediately asked was to Alucard. "Master, Walter would like to know if the woman you're courting is the same woman you said was a lead and if we should be preparing the manor for a lady returning home with you?"

Alucard was casting Mercedes a glare as his servants had this quick exchange amongst themselves, inflating the situation all on their own.

Mercedes was far too entertained to be overly concerned at the moment. Not to mention, the seer had sworn to pay him back and she was bound to do so now.

"I am not courting the woman and she will not be returning to England with me," Alucard said sharply in response to Seras's questions.

"You've met my coworkers, walked me home twice, thrice if you count shadowing me back the first night we met, been at my home every night this week, and helped me put my son to sleep. Then tonight alone you brought me a present, had me pinned on the floor and were necking me, then took me for a flight over the city," Mercedes said with false indignity, giving truthful retellings of the situation as he had done but with a twist. The seer held back a laugh at Alucard's ever darkening glare and added more sweetly, "I know CJ would say that seems a rather lot like courting. Wouldn't you be inclined to agree, _Domn meu_?"

"You've been helping put her son to bed, gave her a present and took her for a flight?!" Seras exclaimed in delight. "Master, I didn't realize you still had it in you to be so paternal and romantic! Is that what you meant by 'additions' Walter? That is so sweet! How old is her son, Master? What is his name? What did you give her? Where did you take her on the flight?" Seras's voice became a little reproachful as she quickly added without waiting for an answer, "But… Master, don't you think it is a little quick to be necking with her?! I mean, you've only been in The States a week! How long after you arrived did you meet her?"

"I am not courting the woman, Police Girl. She is the lead in the case, that is all," was Alucard's extremely aggravated response.

"While it's not my place to tell you how to pursue a relationship, Master, that's a rather intimate way to be behaving with a lady," Seras said reprovingly. "I know you haven't had a steady lover in quite some time, so perhaps you need be informed by a woman of the modern century that that's all most definitely clear signs of intent. Especially if an impressionable child is in the house, asleep or not. And it's rather harsh, even for you, to be leading a proper lady on in such a manner if she is only a lead to you and then to say as much in front of her after such behavior."

"Indeed!" Mercedes agreed with feigned emotionally-hurt tones. "And here I was beginning to think perhaps you may actually be enjoying my company as much as I've been enjoying yours!"

Mercedes had a very difficult time not breaking into riotous laughter as Alucard again turned a blazing glare in her direction.

"Police girl, I'm not continuing this ridiculous line of conversation," Alucard said with a suddenly impassive voice. "Remain at the manor with Walter until I alert you otherwise. That is all the direction I need give you."

"But, Master…"

Whatever Seras was going to say was cut off because her master hung up on her. Alucard's hellfire gaze went immediately to Mercedes, fires distinctly flickering in his red-iris eyes now. Despite that change in his eyes, his face was otherwise deceptively expressionless.

And Mercedes could tell it was deceptive because her empathy was picking up on a massive spike in anger coming from the vampire.

"Ah ah ah!" Mercedes said quickly before he could try anything, holding up a hand in the universal 'stop' gesture. "Turnabout is fair play, Alucard! You know you had that coming after the bar and Val incidents! And before you go making death threats or actual acts of violence, remember that while you may have the scary, more extensive and impressive vampire powers, you still need the little enchantress mouse to help you get into the catholic rats' trapped lair. Otherwise you're stuck on the outside or dead senses and greatly weakened once you go in."

"I may not be able to enter the Archdiocese at the height of my powers without your aid," Alucard replied ominously, stepping forward with a measured, purposeful stride as shadows laced with crimson energy began to gather around him and the temperature in the room dropped. His ebony hair grew down to the middle of his back, his facial features looked slightly more rugged, and his canines and incisors looked all the longer and more lethally sharp. "But I could leave you on your own for Iscariot's attack and then drain a few operatives after you both are dead to discover what they are planning."

Mercedes had only seen Alucard's physical appearance alter once before, when he had answered her mental call for him after having the vision. He was pretty upset then too, but the changes hadn't been this drastic. Alucard looked quite a bit more like paintings she had seen of him in books when he was human, except no facial hair and with the obvious vampiric twist. Intuition was nudging at the seer and she had the distinct feeling such a change in appearance somehow indicated the sire of all vampires wasn't just angry, he was truly pissed off.

Mercedes's smirk had disappeared well before Alucard was looming over her from where she was sitting on the couch. She had figured he'd not be happy with her return prank in and of itself, but he did have a sense of humor nonetheless and seemed to appreciate in his own twisted way the times when she managed to catch him off guard. She truly hadn't expected this extreme of a reaction.

"Still leaves you unable to get into the Archdiocese to clean house and you haven't had much luck in otherwise discovering what they are planning when picking off more than a handful of operatives," Mercedes pointed out quietly, eyes staying locked on the vampire's and freezing her movements so she wouldn't flinch away. Her breath condensed in the cold air as she spoke. "And while I may have just upset you with a return on the larks you pulled at my expense, I'd think the people you want to see dead more are those with Iscariot."

Alucard slowly leaned forward, placing one hand on the back of the couch by Mercedes's head, the other on the arm of the couch near her shoulders. His face was inches from her own, razor-sharp teeth exposed in a malicious grin.

Mercedes could sense the vampire's anger all the more acutely with him being so close and it was almost more frightening than the expression on his face.

"The hatred I hold for Iscariot is indeed great," Alucard said in a quiet voice that seemed to accentuate his anger all the more. "But I find your repeatedly irreverent and provoking behavior to be nearly as infuriating as their tyrannical and arrogant actions."

"You certainly like to cause as much discord as you can for others for your own amusement, but are a poor sport when the same is done in turn," Mercedes retorted through gritted teeth, indignant anger beginning to flare alongside fear. "You may be aiding me with Iscariot, but you've also taken every chance you can to try intimidating me or have some laugh at my expense. If you expect respectful attitudes from people, there are other ways to get it that are far more effective than repeatedly falling back on threats and fear tactics. Seems a man can live hundreds of years but not even learn that simple of a lesson."

"And it seems you don't know when keeping silent would be in the best interest of your immediate survival!" Alucard vicious words were nearly a snarl.

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A/N: Thanks goes to GirlWhoLovesFanfiction, for your wonderful feedback and concise critique. It is much appreciated. Thank you! I am trying to keep any such interrogations to a minimum, but sometimes Alucard is over my shoulder and demanding to know just what the hell is going on with this plot, so he tries forcing my hands to type the scenes. Can I borrow some holy water and silver? I'm fresh out! Also, you're making me worried I'm getting predictable... Perhaps I need to go through the upcoming chapters and throw even more curve balls in, beyond those that are already coming up in the near future.

Rosetta: Thank you for the feedback. I hope you'll enjoy this chapter… And yes, it is a cliffy. Sorry! (Maybe…)

And to the new reviewer, River Styx1201, thanks for your thoughts as well. I *was* an editor for an international company at one point, so my grammar is usually edited properly when I am the one writing. However, self-editing sometimes lets a few things slip and my attention is often diverted by trying to make sure it is stylistically pleasing. Glad to hear I haven't made so many mistakes to be off putting. ^_^

Enjoy your weekend everyone!


	18. Chapter 18 Vita Mea Fracta

A/N: I felt bad about leaving another cliff hanger, so here's an early update...

Chapter Eighteen

Vita Mea Fracta ust et Demissa et Perdita

 _"_ _And it seems you don't know when keeping silent would be in the best interest of your immediate survival!" Alucard vicious words were nearly a snarl._

Mercedes couldn't help but flinch away at the rage in his voice.

"For such an intelligent seer who knows so much about my history and the abstract ways of demons, you have a knack for blindly misinterpreting my motivations and repeatedly forgetting the fact that I am not a 'man' in the human sense just because of the form I choose to don! One would almost think you behave as you do intentionally just to be an intemperate bitch and then retreat to a guise of guileless ignorance to remain unscathed for your manipulations.

"So let me be perfectly clear with you, human. I am a vampire. The first and ever reigning king of my kind. If I wish to play the role of a civil courteous ally, or a charming and seductive suitor, or a frightening, cold-blooded, murderous monster, it is well within my prerogative to display those sides at my whim as the rules I live by are not your rules! And never is it in a human's best interest to intentionally incense me, as you have repeatedly, nor try to influence when and how I show whatever sides I do, for their own personal gain or amusement!"

After the emotional rollercoaster Mercedes had been on the last several days, Alucard's furious and imperious snarling in her face, and the words he was snarling, hit some of the worst buttons possible and finally made her temper snap. Mercedes's anger overmatched her fear in a tidal wave of force.

The enchantress' eyes flashed gold in an instant and a light flared from her necklace and slammed into the vampire. Unlike the bright red light the last time she immobilized Alucard; this enchantment was dark violet-red and not only immobilized a vampire, but placed a barrier to block them entirely from summoning their demonic powers. Similar in nature to the enchantment Iscariot was employing, though differently formed and stronger.

Mercedes had been manipulating the ward since Alucard had walked her home that first night and managed to make that improvement in the last few days when she had free time. Like she had warned, she hadn't survived being around vampires as long as she had without protecting herself and adapting. She had been able to sense his energy precisely enough, from seeing him summon it enough times in her presence, to be able to know what she was blocking him from reaching. But she also knew this ward wouldn't likely last a great deal longer than the other barrier had when used against Alucard. It was a concentrated blast that fully shut him down instead of slowing him down and she couldn't get those sorts of magic to remain a permanent effect when coming from herself and through something like her necklace; rather than being bound to the vampire himself or an object in the immediate vicinity the vampire was in as Iscariot had done with their building. If this enchantment failed and Alucard attacked her, she had one last piece of magic up her sleeve specifically meant for dealing with vampires, but she was really hoping it wouldn't come down to that extreme failsafe.

Mercedes slid off the couch beneath Alucard's arm as soon as the enchantment was released, positioning herself between the vampire and her son's room. Her katana was unsheathed seconds later and pointed at Alucard, who was glaring all the more murderously from where he was frozen, though he was not able to fully face her at this particular moment. Mercedes spoke quickly and in a quiet fury that nearly matched the vampire's in intensity.

"It may not be in my best interest to get on your bad side, but I was only being mischievous in good humor after you had already opened the door first with similar pranks. I wasn't trying to make you go into a ballistic rage like this! You may be a vampire. You may even be the original vampire. The Vampire King. But you know what, Alucard? You aren't playing by some rules exclusive to vampire kind. You're behaving like every other self-entitled, gods damned noble who has ever walked the face of the earth and thinks that just because they have power, they can treat everyone they view as being lesser however the fuck they want! And I should know because I grew up around 'your kind' and have seen it all before on many levels. And I have also known plenty of vampires and you're not like any of them, even those I had to kill. That is an insult to your behavior, by the way, not theirs! I could actually respect most of them! Even the second vampire who attacked me did so out of hunger, an actual need. So I know being a vampire doesn't immediately make someone an evil monster, even if it makes them different than humans!"

Mercedes could see the ward weakening and another flash of violet-red eldritch light hit the vampire, just as Alucard's head turned more fully in her direction with obvious effort on his part, enchantment renewed. Her theory was right. The ward wouldn't last long enough to enable a get-away. Not against the progenitor of vampires. As long as she remained to renew it, though, she could keep him there until her energy ran out. Mercedes was exhausted beyond belief physically, but magical energy was another matter. That hadn't been expended much yet.

The young woman continued her furious verbal attack with barely a pause, looking Alucard straight in his hellfire eyes as she did so:

"But you! Your behavior is that of a selfish bastard who wants to be surrounded by sycophantic servants and expects to get whatever you want, when you want it. You play with a double standard. You are kind or considerate when it suits you, and then you flex your powers like a bully when that doesn't get you what you want, how you want it. Manipulative, arrogant bastards like you make me sick. You're not a monster at times because you're a vampire acting out his nature. If you need proof beyond a seer's word, _Voivode_ ," Mercedes said the title with vicious sarcasm, "you need only look at yourself right now! I know you can't look in a mirror, but certainly you can see yourself with your psychic senses. Twice now, your appearance has shifted closer to your former human countenance when you're truly raging! It hasn't changed into something more demonic! Your inner nature is clearly being reflected and you're not a monster because you're a vampire! You're a monster because you are you! Vlad, Draculea, Dracula, Alucard. Whatever name you go by, you yourself are fucking evil at your core and I was wrong to ever think there was anything more to you than that!"

Another flash of violet-red eldritch light flared between human enchantress and the vampire king and she continued speaking:

"You will remove the hypnosis from my son from where you are when I release you, even if it is more difficult to do from a distance, and then you will get the fuck out of my house and never come near us again. Attempt to do otherwise and try to kill us, and I swear to the gods on all that I hold sacred, as a seer and pagan priestess, I will keep immobilizing you for as long as it takes to find some way to end your insufferable existence once and for all. Pull no hits, show no fucking mercy, aim to kill! I'll follow your advice with weapons and enchantments until I end you somehow, Alucard, or you kill me despite those efforts.

"As far as Iscariot coming after me goes, I will find a way to handle them on my own! Whatever outcome that brings, even death, it is certainly far more preferable than walking on eggshells around you for even another second and wondering if you're going to kill us because I upset you somehow! The biggest mistake I've made since meeting you was ever believing that you were capable of anything but being a monster, were capable of being a civilized and reliable ally and someone who could have even a small amount of trust extended! I was wrong to believe there was even a shred of honor or civility lurking somewhere in you and I never should have asked you for aid!"

Mercedes didn't renew the ward immediately when it again began to fail. The heiress did, however, keep her infuriated gaze and her katana leveled in the vampire's direction, breath coming out somewhat raggedly from her outburst.

Alucard slowly righted himself from where he had been frozen leaning against the couch and turned to face the human fully, expression becoming a perfect mask of stoicism.

Mercedes held her stance warily, sensing the vampire's raging fury remained despite his outward appearance. His fiery gaze was half-curtained by shaggy black bangs as he met Mercedes's golden gaze for several long seconds.

With exaggerated formality, Alucard gave a slight bow at the waist and bent his head, one arm before him and the other behind, long hair tumbling to either side of his torso.

"Well played, Lady Mercedes," Alucard said in an impassive voice. He held the bow for several more seconds. "Your son is no longer under my influence and, as you command, I will leave and never again return to trouble either you." Alucard straightened his stance and met Mercedes's unwavering gaze. "Good luck in your upcoming fight against Iscariot. Show the same side of yourself you have shown this evening and perhaps you'll survive without needing a monster as an ally."

Alucard turned on his heel in a military about-face and walked straight out of the apartment without further exchange.

Mercedes followed the vampire's energy as long as she could with her senses, until it had moved far enough away that she could no longer sense him, before allowing her katana to lower. She gave a shuddering sigh of relief, but didn't really believe that Alucard had left so easily.

Mercedes waited longer, senses kept wide open for any sign of his return as she had a pretty good idea of how fast he could travel should he decide to turn around.

It wasn't until nearly ten minutes passed, standing in defensive position in the middle of her living room and waiting for some surprise attack, and yet still no sign of the vampire returning, that she finally started to think that perhaps Alucard really had left and would stay gone.

Keeping her sword drawn, the young woman went to her son's room to check on him. Mercedes could see by the light peeking in from the living room that Xander was breathing lightly, wrapped up in his blanket with his stuffed dragon like a burrito, and issuing little snores. She stroked his ebony hair with her free hand and he stirred beneath her touch before once more going silent.

Mercedes breathed another sigh of relief. Her son was asleep, but it was a normal sleep. If Alucard hadn't removed the hypnosis, she would have had to call Liam and hope that he could use his own powers to break through the induced sleep. Which would have then led to all sorts of difficult questions she really did not want to have to answer tonight.

Mercedes lowered herself to the ground then, back against her son's bed. She pulled her knees to her chest, crossed her arms over her knees and held her katana at an angle between her knees and the floor. Mercedes stretched out her senses again, and still there was no sign of Alucard returning. She glanced up at the ceiling where Shadowsnake was currently hovering; a night-blue, faintly shimmering mass curled around the ceiling fan above her son's bed.

"Go up to the roof again and keep watch, Shadowsnake," Mercedes quietly ordered, but with respect for her son's familiar so he'd listen. "Your little master needs your protection all the more tonight. If you pick up the slightest sign of the armed men and priest of Iscariot, or the vampire Alucard, alert me immediately. Do not attempt to engage them in a fight. We will need every bit of warning we can get and your loyal vigilance may be the few seconds' edge that decides this battle and keeps your little master from death."

The demonic snake let out a low hiss and bobbed its head once to the pagan priestess. Its blood-red gaze went to the sleeping boy- protective as always for the young child who held just enough power within his small body to bring the familiar from the underworld where it had been existing in solitude and perpetual hunger- and then the snake disappeared through the ceiling and up to the roof.

Mercedes lowered her head to her crossed arms then, more weary than she had ever felt in her life before.

The young woman knew she couldn't sleep though. Not yet anyway.

The plan for when Iscariot came hunting for them had just gone up in flames and she needed to try to rethink a strategy that didn't foolishly rely on another. Especially not someone as volatile as Alucard.

Mercedes sighed again and then lifted her head. She summoned up Athene, who automatically began nudging at her mistress's hand to be pet.

"There's my good girl," Mercedes said quietly.

The demonic familiar panted a little and then licked Mercedes's face once. The enchantress wrinkled her nose slightly at the smell of demon doggy breath- sulfur, smoke, and burnt mugwort.

Mercedes gave a half-hearted smile anyway, too preoccupied to care about lingering doggy breath stench, as she murmured fondly, "You're such a snuggle hound."

Athene gave a wide doggy grin, exposing all three rows of razor-sharp fangs, and then gave her mistress another lick.

"Artemis has already taken watches today," Mercedes instructed, looking the hell hound in its two normally-placed crimson eyes and then the center eye of the three on its forehead. "Go snuggle up with Xander and stay by his side. Protect him tonight. I know you can't do anything about Alucard, but if any other threats enter this room you have my full permission to devour them body and soul, understand?"

The familiar gave a sniff and an affirmative shake of her head. Artemis jumped up on the bed, shifting to an incorporeal state during the movement to not disturb the boy or bedding as she did so. Mercedes watched as the hellhound curled up protectively to her son, resting her ebony spiky-furred head lightly on his legs.

The tired young woman stood, finally sheathed her sword for the time being, and with another gesture summoned Cerberus.

The gigantic hell hound nearly knocked his mistress over as his head butted against her chest affectionately.

"Hey, big guy," Mercedes whispered to the familiar she had had longest, rubbing along his massive head and scratching behind his ears. "I haven't been giving you much attention lately. I'm sorry. I could use some company right about now. Think you'd mind being my date?"

The demon dog responded to the despondent question by standing on his hind legs and licking his mistress's face, once more nearly knocking the enchantress over as a paw the size of a dinner plate rested on her shoulder, before dropping down heavily to all fours again with a snuff.

Mercedes gave a wistful smile. "Knew I could count on ya, Cerberus."

The hound butted against his mistress's chest again and then followed her out to the kitchen. Mercedes started up the previously abandoned coffee maker to give her sleep-deprived brain a jolt of caffeine to aid in thinking.

As the coffee maker began its bubbling noises to heat the water and then the drip of the dark liquid to the pot began, Mercedes stretched out her senses again. And again, the vampire seemed to be staying away as she had demanded.

Mercedes watched the steady drips of coffee, pouring like sands of an hourglass. She murmured with a rueful smirk, " _Vita mea fracta ust et demissa et perdita_ … 'My life fractures and is dejected and destroyed'… Indeed…"

Cerberus sniffed at his mistress's hand and gave it a tentative lick, looking at her with his five hellfire eyes in concern. Mercedes turned away from the coffee pot, and rest her head on the demonic familiar's coarse-furred shoulder.

" _Predator Cerberus_ _qui vit infernus fames ardens carme hominis_ … Soon you'll have your fill of flesh when those who would kill our little family come hunting…"

Cerberus shifted his head and licked the side of her face with his long tongue, giving a pleased canine grin.

"Yes, I know," Mercedes continued to murmur. "You've gone a long stretch without your hungers being satiated." She ruffled the hell hound's fur affectionately, causing him to give a content snuff. "You've been such a good familiar despite that, though, Cerberus. And you always do fight most ferociously when you've been without a good meal for a while, don't you, you vicious hell hound?"

Cerberus licked his mistress's face again, causing her to laugh a moment and then bat his face away playfully. She rest her head again on his shoulder and gave another sigh.

Mercedes's mind drifted back to Alucard. Even though she knew she wouldn't get much of an answer from her hound, intelligent as Cerberus was, Mercedes still mused out loud.

"How is that one who drinks his fill nearly every night seems never satiated, Cerberus? So ready to jump into a fight like he's some long starving mutt and needs to tear everything apart? Regardless of who the target is? What could make a being be filled with so much anger as Alucard always seems to be filled with?"

Cerberus made a distinctly unhappy noise and bumped against Mercedes's face with his abnormally hot nose. She scratched around his muzzle and continued morosely.

" _Je ne sais pas aussi_ , Cerberus… Human, vampire, daimon… Doesn't mean it makes that being some evil monster."

The demon dog licked at her hand, causing another wistful smile on his mistress's face.

" _Oui_ , I know you're not an evil monster, Cerberus. Don't take my musings personal. Hell hound named after your mythical counterpart in the Underworld, perhaps, but you're no monster…"

Mercedes sighed again and shook her head in frustration. Her musings shifted to her native French as they continued, "I heard how Liam and the others had made mention of him as the progenitor of vampires, but there's a lot of gaps when someone lives for hundreds of years and I thought perhaps there was something else in those. I read about his human life because I couldn't accept the idea that there was a being that was solely destructive and evil. I know not all beings with powers derived from darkness end up the same and that not all darkness equates to evil as darkness is necessary to balance light. Creation can't exist without destruction, nor can destruction go unhindered as there'd be nothing left for it to destroy. And I thought that nothing could be entirely evil as nothing can ever be entirely good either…

"And despite all the records of destructive deeds he has committed, as a human and a vampire, there were acts to be found of benevolence or shows of concern for the greater picture… Especially when he was human. His enemies told countless stories of atrocities he allegedly committed, but many of those stories have been discredited by historians as propaganda. Those that can be proven were committed in a time of war and fighting against almost impossible odds stacked in favor of those enemies, and with allies betraying him when it wasn't conducive to their own aims to support his attempts to keep his country free. He had to work with what limited resources and methods he had available against such odds if he was to have any chance to protect his people as a whole. And there are many accounts from his own people, praising him for all the positive actions he took for their sake and rebuilding their broken country; praising him for being a just, if strict, ruler. _Mon grandpère_ always says that if you wish to know the true nature of a fallen leader, you should look to what that person's own people say once 'liberated', rather than their enemies; especially when said enemies were victorious and could say as they wish. I thought after our first few discussions that perhaps he might be like you hounds. Dramatized scary reputation because the position you hold in the scheme of things means you have to do things others would find distasteful or immoral because it is the most effective or only course to take, need for a food most wouldn't find acceptable, innate bad attitude that pops up on occasion…"

Cerberus huffed indignantly, red eyes narrowing as he gave a low growl, exposing all three rows of razor-sharp teeth, some of which were almost as long as paring knives, inches from his mistress's face.

Mercedes pointed at the hell hound sternly, trying to keep a straight face when she really wanted to laugh at the familiar's teasing display. "You have a bad attitude sometimes and you know it, Cerberus. Especially when I first dragged your daimonic hide up to this plane! I couldn't trust you further than I could throw you until you had a chance to snarl yourself out, realize I wasn't summoning you to cause you harm or turn you into a slave, and then started showing your true personality."

The hell hound considered that argument and then licked the tip of his mistress's finger in guilty admittance.

Mercedes did quietly laugh for a few seconds at that. "See. For all that trouble at first, you hounds are loyal. You know when to attack or when to show mercy, and have your own sort of self-control. Just because you're accepting of your destructive nature, doesn't mean you're a monster… Under the scary looking daimon exterior, you all have hearts and are capable of being kind when someone likewise earns your trust and respect."

The hell hound sniffed his mistress's face and then sat down on his haunches next to her. Big as the demon dog was, his spiky-furred head was still almost level with the enchantress. Mercedes sighed and sat down next to her hound, leaning against Cerberus wearily. The hound sniffed her hair and nuzzled against her affectionately.

As the coffee maker was finishing brewing the coffee, the enchantress gave her demonic familiar a final pet. Mercedes gave a derisive snort of laughter as her thoughts continued winding through her mind, mocking aimed at herself.

Cerberus's massive head turned back towards his mistress and he gave a concerned whine.

"Alucard is correct about one thing, Cerberus. I may be a seer, but I'm also a fool who didn't come close to truly seeing him as he is. I don't think I can count the number of times I felt on the verge of a headache just from sensing all that anger within him. I can't imagine living with the full force of it without relent and letting it consume me as he has let it. And he has no true respect for anyone, regardless of what trust they try to extend cautiously and the personal risks they take by doing so. Whatever kindnesses I thought I saw buried beneath all that anger and hatred, whatever reasons I thought I had discovered for his seemingly monstrous behavior, they were not sides of him equally true to nature that he showed but rarely. They were only ever proven to be illusions and manipulations to further his own ends that he inevitably tossed aside in a heartbeat when showing his true nature to incite fear was more advantageous... And I was foolish enough to believe otherwise; to believe he had some inner sense of honor and decency that kept him from crossing the line completely. Foolish enough to try to be patient as I was with you because I thought there was more than just snarling murderous instinct to him and he just needed a chance to allow that to show. Gods was I so stupidly wrong on so many levels…"

Mercedes sighed and thought of other lyrics from the song she had been translating during the final rounds of her spar with Alucard.

"The hunting Cerberus in Hell, craves passionately the human flesh… I truly am a fool… If ever there was a living embodiment of _Schwarze Sonne_ , Cerberus, I've had it wrong all these years. Same name or not, your necessary feeding for survival aside, you're not the S _chwarze Sonne_. That honor would have to be given to the true master of the powers of darkness…" Mercedes let out a strained laugh, trying to keep from breaking down from stress.

She murmured quietly the English lyrics sticking out in her mind, "'You shine darker than the night, you are older than the light. You are created invisible, have no body, nor face… You penetrate into the mind, you enlighten my mood. You entice and you defile. You are cold and burned out… …And in fact, you scare me. Eternally, Black Sun.'"

Mercedes gave another self-deprecating laugh. " _Par les dieux_ , I'm never going to be able to listen to that song again. Not without thinking of Alucard and his duplicitous head games meant to frighten me and shake my defenses just so he could have a distraction from his boredom. And that was one of my favorite songs too…"

The young woman sighed and hung her head. "' _Daemon, parce mihi_ '… I guess I should be glad my mistaken blindness didn't end with our deaths all the sooner, and at the hands of a daemon I was willing to call ally no less. It'll be a lesson learned in not assuming things might be more than they appear and to trust my initial instincts in the future if we survive past the next few days."

Mercedes stood from where she was crouched and opened up the fridge. She grabbed a steak that had been meant for tomorrow's dinner. She pulled it from its packaging and tossed it to the hell hound as a treat, deciding she could pick up another tomorrow.

Cerberus caught the steak and downed it with a greedy gulp, then whimpered for more.

" _Oui, je sais_. It's not as good as the fresh stuff but you'd like more. I'm out of steaks until I go grocery shopping though." Mercedes rolled her eyes and grabbed the coffee creamer with the hand that hadn't touched the raw steak. She added with as much conviction as she could muster, "You'll have a proper meal soon enough, Cerberus. For now, I need to try figuring out what to do about the priest while you all have your fill with the others."

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Alucard reached his hotel room within minutes of leaving Mercedes's apartment. Rather than go through the front entrance and wait for the elevator, he phased straight into the sitting room through the wall that faced the city.

The vampire picked up an expensive designer vase sitting on a side table next to one of the lounges and, with an inhuman snarl, threw the vase across the room and shattered it.

It didn't help relieve any of the raging fury coursing through him at the moment.

Alucard began pacing across the living room, all the way across. His pacing took him from one side of the floor, up a wall, across the ceiling, doing an about-face, then pacing back the way he had come.

The progenitor of vampires was absolutely furious with the human for behaving in such ungrateful and goading ways as she had on repeated occasions after the trouble he had been extending on her behalf to try minimizing the chances of her and her son ending up dead. He didn't have to do so, but he had enough respect for the heiress to attempt to as they shared a common enemy.

And if he snapped at her and expressed his anger at her contradictory, provocative behavior, it was only what she had so pointedly incited! She should have been glad he wasn't draining her or worse, as he normally would when someone was foolish enough to continually and intentionally incense him!

Alucard was also furious that she insisted on holding his actions against what she felt was acceptable in her own perception of the world. Furious she continually compared his actions to human equivalents and drew the wrong conclusions from there. Even on occasions when there might have been similarities, she drew the wrong damned conclusions! He was furious that she concentrated on every little thing he had done since they had met that she felt was a wrong against her and then passed judgment on him as though she had a right to.

He was furious she had dared to use an enchantment on him, again. Furious she had dared to pull a sword on him. Furious she had dared to give him orders.

Furious… Even as he felt a grudging respect and admiration for the heiress's ingenuity and courage to do so…

Powerful as he was, and Alucard had yet to find some opponent who could match him, enchantments and binding magic had become the bane of his undead existence. In a way he had the Hellsing family to thank for that, for being the first to resurrect such methods that they were able to uncover in their day and use them against him. There still weren't many who could properly form such enchantments, the belief in magic had waned over the millennia and much knowledge of it had been destroyed. Few bothered to try learning it these days. Fewer still had the innate capability of performing anything beyond minor enchantments, even if they acquired the proper knowledge. And Hellsing kept their exact processes for magic wielding a tightly-guarded secret so their specific methods couldn't be stolen and/or used against them. Ever since it became known the Hellsing family had trapped him in servitude, however, those who could perform any level of enchantments seemed to enjoy seeking the progenitor of vampires out and trying to pit their magic against him.

If a worthy adversary ended his existence in a fight he was unleashing his entire power in, Alucard could almost find pleasure in that. Anderson repeatedly ran from battle when he was losing, but at least he mostly used his little magic tricks to fight.

But these wards and magic other humans employed that didn't even aid themselves directly to fight, that were aimed to strip him of his own abilities to fight, to strip him of the choice to fight even…

There were few things Alucard could think of at the moment that he hated more than such enchantments and wards.

For all that he was furious with Mercedes, Alucard was also furious with himself because, on some level, her sharp words actually struck him like a blow. He knew she was right about a few certain things she had said. And those things the seer was wrong about, but believed so strongly in that she was right that she could speak them with conviction, were likewise a blow. Alucard wasn't willing to evaluate which parts of those comments of hers struck him the hardest- or why they had, as such brought to mind a sundry of unpleasant thoughts and memories- but they had undeniably struck him. And he was furious with himself for allowing the human to effect him in such a way.

Alucard was also confused as to why she had unleashed her magic, comments and threats then; when previous mutual exchanges of angry comments, or displays of anger from him, or even when he had her pinned to the floor and was making an advance, hadn't elicited such a response and use of her magic. Even if he was baffled to her reasoning, that she had meant what she had said was clear. Even without being a seer and unable to lie, her conviction was unquestionable by the determination expressed in her eyes and the angry, even betrayed, tone of voice she had yelled at him with.

The shock of the first, combined with the confusion of the second and the young woman's unwavering courage in the face of his fury, was why he had decided to leave her to her own devices as she had demanded instead of making an attempt to tear that infernal necklace she had created from her neck and then destroying her body and soul for daring to mock and incense him in the fashions she had.

"The catholic dogs are welcome to the infuriating bitch," Alucard cursed out loud to the empty air. He tried not to remember just how betrayed Mercedes had sounded as she yelled at him, concentrating instead on his anger for her actions and words. "If she survives their ravaging, she'll have earned it. If not, it's her own damned fault she and the boy end up dead for throwing the help I extended in my face because she didn't care for the way it came, or that I would not stand for her intemperate and incensing behavior, and was not capable enough to protect herself after doing so."

The furious and restless progenitor of vampires left the hotel as a shadow streaking across the night.

Alucard ended up stopping a block away from the Archdiocese and came to rest on the roof of a much taller skyscraper. Even from this distance, he could easily keep watch on the building and wait for any signs of Iscariot's men leaving or going. Alucard wanted nothing more right now than to tear something apart and they might put up enough of a struggle to allow a better release of his rage than the average human on the streets would. There was still no sign of movement outside the Archdiocese, though he could see lights on in a few windows and occasional shadows of movement behind the drawn curtains.

"Humans and their god-damned enchantments and fucking wards!" Alucard muttered, watching the building with growing ire.

If the Iscariot agents weren't hiding behind magic like cowards, he could rip every single one of them out of their nest and impale them in a line down the street as a warning to those back at the Vatican and then go inside and see what all their plotting had been about.

Or maybe he should just leave Iscariot to their little plots and let them wipe out as many of the pretentious vampire punks here as they could. Whatever else Iscariot might be plotting beyond that, he could deal with it in another country.

Alucard was thoroughly disgusted with this country he was in and every aspect of the situations he had uncovered since his arrival. As much as he wanted to thwart Iscariot's over-bearing plans when he could, destroy any of their self-righteous operatives he could get his hands on, Alucard was feeling almost as much revulsion for all the pettiness and posturing among the vampires that he had found here. They may have their own little community and were not exposing the general populace to vampires, nor trying to over-populate the city with vampires and ghouls, but they were ultimately weak little children trying to play Lords of the Manor and so wrapped up in their little intrigues that they were oblivious to the threat that was growing right under their own noses.

Alucard's tempestuous musings were interrupted when he suddenly felt a mental nudging from his hell hounds. Similar to when they were especially riled up and wanting to be released to stalk down a meal and feast on flesh.

Alucard willed them to be silent and leave him in peace, as they usually waited quietly for his command to be dragged up from the underworld of hell. Instead of quieting down, the hell hounds continued making an insistent demand for satisfaction, for release.

Alucard summoned the loudest one to his side and glanced down at it, utterly bemused by its behavior.

"I let you feast on four humans just a few nights ago. Why are you howling like I haven't fed you in a decade?" Alucard demanded irritably.

Instead of receiving some impression for need of sustenance or warning of a danger from the demonic familiar, Alucard began to hear an echo of a voice in his head. A voice the vampire quickly recognized as being Mercedes's. From the dialogue, he could tell she was speaking to her hound, Cerberus, asking him to keep her company for the remainder of the evening.

Alucard tilted his head and looked down at his hell hound from above the rim of his tinted glasses with a raised eyebrow.

That was most certainly a new trick his old dog had learned.

The progenitor of vampires actually wasn't sure what the hound was doing exactly, nor how it was doing it.

After a brief consideration of the matter, Alucard made an educated guess it had something to do with the connection most demonic familiars had to their own kind and the fact that both he and the human were masters of hell hounds by their own rights. Just as his familiar, this one in fact, had refused to attack the human and hers wouldn't attack him, apparently their hounds had some means of communicating between themselves and passing such communication to their masters from the others if they chose to do so.

The demon dog gave a feral grin in confirmation as Alucard's thoughts came to the conclusion, tongue lolling over dagger-like teeth.

Alucard's speculating expression became one of anger all over again and he was once more glaring at his familiar.

"I don't need to hear what that shrill bitch may be saying to her sorry excuses for hell hounds. Bother me again for such a thing and I will end your existence, you impertinent mutt."

The hell hound sat on his back haunches and bared his three rows of teeth at his master.

The vampire's eyes flared with disbelieving fury at the disobedient, confrontational display.

In almost 600 years of service, not one of his hounds had ever dared such insolence before.

Alucard was about to do as he threatened and destroy the familiar, when fragments of the human's voice in his mind caught his attention.

Mercedes was talking about him.

Alucard stilled the energy he had summoned that would destroy the hell hound and listened. A renewed flash anger rushed through the vampire as he heard what Mercedes was saying through her hound's ears and his hound's mind.

Alucard's face became an impassive mask as he continued to hear the conversation unbeknownst to her. His eyes flickered steadily brighter with fiery rage behind the glasses he wore with each passing minute that brought unfiltered insight into her thoughts.

When Mercedes was apparently finished speaking to her hound like a sounding board, her voice faded away from the vampire's mind.

The hell hound stood on all four legs with an insistent bark and all eight eyes narrowed expectantly on its master.

Alucard sent it back to its own plane of existence with a muttered curse to remember who was the master and summoning who, and a threat to destroy it if it ever again insisted on such a waste of his time or dared to so much as growl in his master's direction again.

The vampire turned hellfire eyes towards the now lightening sky in the east and saw that dawn wasn't far off.

Iscariot still hadn't left their enchanted hole. Whatever plots they were hatching that included the humans' deaths would be waiting another night. But the seer and her son likely only had one last day to enjoy their lives as Alucard had a strong feeling Iscariot would be making their move at tomorrow's dawn. As Alucard had said, Anderson didn't like to wait long and the early hours of Monday morning would be two extra nights of waiting for the priest.

Alucard clenched his jaw, teeth grinding together, as his gaze went in the direction of Mercedes's apartment. The vampire's gaze lingered there as his mind replayed what he had heard her saying. He felt further incensed by the conclusions his thoughts came to and his desire to destroy something was reaching a peak in intensity.

The progenitor of vampire's gaze shifted back to the Archdiocese and he debated again on his course of action.

Before he made his final decision on whether to leave Iscariot to their plots and face them at another time of his own choosing, or remain and attempt to destroy them before their plots could unfold, he needed to know one thing.

Alucard sped back to his hotel room, directly into the bedroom. He shoved off the lid of his coffin and removed the letter Mercedes had entrusted to him to deliver with her son in the event something befell her. The envelope lid was tucked in, not sealed. Alucard opened it and removed the letter inside.

Alucard read the contents with an impassive expression, but his hellfire eyes flashed with telltale tempestuous emotions as he saw what the seer's last words would be in the event of her death. His fury grew as he compared that to what he had overheard her saying to her hell hounds, and what she had yelled at him while he was frozen in place.

"You truly are a fool at times, Seer… And you have no idea how deeply you've misjudged me." With a vicious low growl, replacing the letter in the envelope and letting it drop back into his coffin, Alucard made his decision in a flash of immovable resolve. He pulled out his cell phone and called his manor back in England.

"Good morning, Master Alucard," Walter was the one to answer.

"Walter, check flight advisories and airspace schedules and find out how soon a flight out of Philadelphia and back to England can be arranged," Alucard said stoically.

"Has the situation with Iscariot been resolved so suddenly, Master?" Walter asked in surprise.

"No. But I am finished playing this game by their rules and in the place of their choice. Make the necessary calls or run your searches or however you go about planning the flights, but get me the information I requested and then call me when you have it."

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A/N 2: So before the pitchforks come out, quick things to note. Alucard is going to be entirely MIA for the next two chapters, as they concentrate on what's going on with Mercedes during this split of allies. The following two chapters you'll hear mentions of Alucard from the third party of the American Elders. You will finally get a few answers as to what they have been up to while Anderson and the rest of Iscariot is flooding into their city. After those four chapters... Well... You'll have to wait and see. But I can guarantee you won't want to miss the Alucard missing chapters, as they are critical to the build up of this conflict, and the following chapters will hopefully knock your socks off. ;-)

Thanks go to GirlWhoLovesFanfiction, for the comprehensive review! Glad to see you enjoyed the Seras interlude so much! I am trying very hard to keep Alucard in character, which means there's going to be lots of conflict. I'm glad to hear you feel I'm not botching his character.

Also, thanks to ChibiDiceBotch (nice name, btw!) for your review! I'm trying to make all the characters seem realistic and multidimensional, each in turn when the opportunities present themselves to reveal the cast I'm juggling. And as a Firefly fan, that may have accidentally slipped in. I didn't set out to reference the Captain, but I did realize after writing it that it sounds like Mal and couldn't bring myself to change it. Who knows, maybe Alucard likes more than Bruce Willis movies and Tom and Jerry? ;-)


	19. Chapter 19 An Unexpected Visit

Chapter Nineteen

An Unexpected Visit and Request

"Awene!" Xander's pleased screech signaled his waking like a rooster's crowing signaled dawn itself. A muted bark and then giggles followed. "Mama! Awene is in my bed!"

" _Je sais, mon petit cher_ " Mercedes called wearily from the living room where she was currently sitting. "Athene wanted to snuggle with you."

"Awww…"

Mercedes leaned forward from her position on the couch and could see Xander trying to wrestle with the hell hound on his bed.

Athene flickered out of this plane to escape his grasps and then became corporeal again to land her paws on his chest and knock him over.

Xander giggled as the demonic dog opened its jaws, exposing its three rows of jagged teeth, and proceeded to cover his face in smelly doggy kisses.

Mercedes smiled at the sight of the two playing and then gave a yawn. After dawn had come and there was still no sign of Iscariot, she had taken a brief cold shower to help keep alert as she still had much to think on, and once again changed into normal clothes so as not to worry Xander by being armed with multiple weapons. The lack of sleep was effecting her nonetheless and she was glad to let the hell hound keep her active son occupied for the time being.

"Xander, are you hungry?" Mercedes eventually called over to her son.

" _Oui_ , mama!"

Mercedes shook her head in amusement, expecting the usual answer, and stood up to make breakfast. When it was ready, she sent Athene away for the time being so Xander would settle down to eat.

Mercedes was just getting ready to make another pot of coffee when her phone rang.

She glanced at her cell and was surprised to see Liam's name coming up. It had been a while since he had last called her during the day.

"Good morning, Liam," Mercedes said warmly. After the night she had had, the chance to hear his voice was a welcome surprise.

"Good morning, Sunshine! Would you be a dear and come unlock the front door? I have brought you your favorite raspberry mocha and your celestial counterpart is not near as kind to those who come bearing cappuccino as yourself."

Mercedes laughed at that. "I'll be right out."

"Thank you, darling."

Liam was fully capable of speaking with her telepathically, especially if he was that nearby. He knew Mercedes was trying to keep her life somewhat normal, however, especially in front of Xander. Xander knew Liam was a vampire, but Liam made the effort to do things in a human fashion in front of the child. Which was something Mercedes appreciated greatly.

Mercedes left her apartment as quickly as she could and opened the door.

Liam stepped inside and let out an exaggerated sigh of relief as he removed his D&G sunglasses, eliciting more laughter from Mercedes.

"And good morning again to you, my Sunshine," Liam said with a wide smile as he leaned down and gave Mercedes a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Good morning again, Liam," Mercedes said, accepting the steaming hot coffee from Liam and taking an appreciative sniff. "And to what do I owe the delight of an early morning cappuccino delivery to my front door?"

"Besides that early morning is the best time of morning to bring a busy lady such as yourself cappuccino?" Liam asked playfully as he followed her back to her apartment. "Perhaps I just wished to see my lovely Sunshine for a few minutes and reassure myself you were well after all the trouble you have had this week. And from the looks of those circles under your eyes, I can see that you have not been resting much and the cappuccino was good timing. Insomnia as usual or stress from earlier this week?"

"A bit of both, but I'm surviving," Mercedes said as reassuringly as she could. She opened the apartment door and Xander caught sight of Liam from where he was sitting and eating.

"Liam!"

There was a flash of Transformer pajamas and ebony hair as the preschooler leaped up from the couch, nearly knocking his plate over, and went running as fast as five year old legs could carry him. Which, for a five year old human child, was pretty quick as he was so tall and energetic.

Liam gave a wide smile and caught Xander before the boy could slam into him with the force of the running hug, swinging him up to give him that hug.

"And a good morning to you, my little man," Liam said, laughing and giving the boy a kiss on the forehead. "How have you been, Xander?"

"Good," Xander replied. He pointed at his mouth, "I loss anowa toof, Liam."

"I can see that!" Liam said with comical surprised tones, foxfire eyes widening as though stunned. "Would you look at that! That makes eight now! We should tell those teeth to slow down a little before you run out!"

"I won' wun out, Liam!" Xander exclaimed indignantly. "They'll gwow back!"

"I know they will grow back, but you are going to be all gums until they do at this rate. We cannot have that, now can we?" Liam said teasingly, flashing Xander a pointy-toothed smile. The boy giggled at the vampire as Liam playfully tugged at Xander's start of a ponytail. "How would you ever be able to eat all that delicious food your mommy makes for you if that happened?"

Xander had no answer for that teasing comment so instead he turned his head so Liam could see the back of his head better. "I don' know… Buh, look, Liam! Mama put my haiw in a tail jus' like yows."

"I can see that as well!" Liam said with another grin. "It is finally becoming a proper length for a noble lad."

"I wanted to cut it so I could see his eyes again," Mercedes said, giving Liam a feigned glare that was ineffective as she was trying not to laugh, "but a certain little someone refused to let me, going so far as to have Shadowsnake steal my scissors, and so I had no choice but to pull it back. I believe he said something to the effect of: 'Noble pagan boys have long hair, like Liam and Uncle Marrick. Only soldiers, commoners and Christians keep their hair short because they need to be practical instead of fashionable or don't know how to take care of it.' I wonder where he could have heard such a mouthful of medieval, elitist protestations?"

"Why, from me of course!" Liam replied with mock indignation and was absolutely unrepentant. "Little Xander speaks the truth, Sunshine! This may be the modern era, but some traditions should be kept. Especially for handsome gentlemen such as us two." The vampire gave Xander a conspiratorial look, hiding his mouth with a free hand as he said in a stage whisper, "If mommy tries to come near you with those evil scissors of hers, you keep making sure to have Shadowsnake hide them and telling her 'no' and that you will tell me or Uncle Marrick or Uncle Davin that she tried to again. We will make certain to have words with mommy about such mean attempts to cut such fine hair as yours."

"I will!" Xander agreed with a smile. He gave Liam another hug around the neck and received a kiss on the head in return.

"You're just about turning our son against me, Liam Sëaghdha. That's not fair." Mercedes shook her head, a smile tugging at her lips despite the reproving words as she watched the affectionate exchange between the two.

"I most certainly am not and my Sunshine should know better than to tease in such ways as one might think the seer was serious in that!" Liam said with a smile of his own. "Little Xander has a wonderful mother. I would never encourage him to do anything against you personally and he knows I would be most displeased should he misbehave for you. I am simply making certain my boy has a proper appearance and influences for a noble-born follower of the old ways as he grows."

Liam gave Xander's pulled-back hair another playful tug, causing the child to giggle again, and then set him down.

Xander made a face at Liam for putting him down, causing the vampire to chuckle as he brushed a few toast crumbs from his fitted cobalt-blue jacket. The little boy grabbed Liam's other hand and pulled him all the way in the apartment. Mercedes followed behind with a laugh at their antics and closed the apartment door.

"So what is it you are having for breakfast this morning?" Liam asked Xander, glancing over at the plate as the child sat down. "Ah! Eggs with lemon pepper, toast and bacon I see. You are getting adventurous and changing things up a bit from the sausages."

"Mhm, it's yummy," Xander said, gobbling down another bite of eggs. "Mama is a good cook."

"I would wager she is," Liam agreed pleasantly. "Your mommy is good at just about everything artistic that she sets her mind to and cooking can certainly be an art in its own rights."

Mercedes held back another laugh. "I would hardly call a simple breakfast I make every morning art, but thank you," she said before taking a sip of her drink.

"Well, for someone such as myself, darling," Liam said with a teasing smile, "even something as mundane as a daily breakfast can be a luxury missed."

Mercedes nodded, conceding his point. The heiress glanced at her coffee with an appreciative smile. "Fair enough. As one used to such daily things, this cappuccino is the equivalent of a divine masterpiece nonetheless. It has been awhile since I've had a chance to stop by the café. Thank you, Liam."

"Of course, Mercedes," Liam replied, turning from Xander to face her. He cupped the side of Mercedes's face with one hand and gently stroked beneath the faint circle he had mentioned with the tip of his thumb, giving a frown. Liam added soberly, foxfire eyes flaring a little brighter, "You really do look exhausted, Sunshine. Are you certain you are alright?"

"I will be, Liam," Mercedes said. Which wasn't untrue, as she hoped this mess with Iscariot would be over somehow and then life would return to normal. She could sense a great deal of concern from Liam and added to be more reassuring, "It has just been a long week and it's going to get a bit longer before it is done. I plan to catch up on some sleep as soon as I can."

When Liam still didn't smile, nor was his worry seeming to abate, Mercedes added with an attempt to sound more cheerful, "I forgot to mention last time we talked, but I know you'll be glad to hear, I spoke with Val and she is free to watch Xander for the evening you invited me out to in August. Jackie was also willing to approve the night off."

Liam nodded once, giving her a smile, and let his hand drop down, but he still looked concerned. "I am indeed glad to hear that. It has been far too long since the last time I was able to enjoy your company for a social night out, my Sunshine." He gave a small sigh. "I apologize if I am seeming overly worried. I have had a rather long week myself and what happened earlier this week has been weighing heavily on my mind as well."

"You don't need to worry so much," Mercedes said, trying to sound sincere. "I am a grown woman. I do know how to take care of myself, partially in thanks to your efforts."

"Indeed you are, darling, and I know you do. But even with that reassurance of capability, that does not mean I can simply not worry when something wishes to make your life more difficult." The vampire glanced over at Xander for a few seconds, who was happily munching down breakfast and had his attention on the Leap Frog movie he was watching. Liam's foxfire gaze went back to Mercedes, who was sipping at her cappuccino. He gave a warmer smile as he gently tugged her by her free hand towards the bedroom to speak. "I was wondering about something, my dearest Sunshine."

"What were you wondering about, Liam?" Mercedes returned Liam's smile and let him pull her away from Xander, glad he was changing the topic for now.

"I was wondering if perhaps you and a certain little someone might want to spend the weekend at the mansion with me," Liam suggested once they were in the bedroom. "Get away from the city for a little bit, have a few days of rest and relaxation."

Liam held up a hand for patience when Mercedes's smile disappeared and she made to reply automatically while setting her cappuccino down to give him her full attention.

"I know you usually work the weekends, Sunshine, but you have also had a long week and a weekend off would not hurt you. Jackie might not like you calling out from work at the last minute, but you haven't done so since our little impromptu summer trip to France. And I know that you don't want the little one to have the wrong idea by coming back to the mansion too frequently, but you two haven't stayed an entire weekend since February and you both deserve the occasional spontaneous reprieve from the usual daily grind. Especially you, darling…"

Liam gently stroked Mercedes's face, cool fingers once more tracing beneath the sleep-deprived circle under one eye and then along her cheek as he continued speaking.

"You are a lady in every sense of the word and yet you work yourself far too hard for your own good. You should allow yourself a reprieve and allow someone else to worry about the mundane details for a weekend. I would be more than happy for you two to visit again and be the one to see to such details so that you can relax. And a certain grand-sire of mine is still in town. He has already caused you some distress twice in as many nights earlier this week and, as he escorted you home, he knows where you live. It would likewise ease a fair bit of my worries if you two were someplace where I could keep an eye on you until he is gone to avoid any further trouble."

Mercedes sighed in frustration. A weekend off work and away from her apartment sounded incredibly inviting, angry boss or not. More so than Liam could know, as she couldn't tell him what was transpiring outside her usual stresses.

One of the conclusions Mercedes had stuck to, despite no longer having Alucard's aid, was that she didn't want to get Liam involved with this mess with Iscariot. She still wasn't sure how well she'd handle Anderson on her own, but she was otherwise fairly certain she could manage. Liam was an Elder vampire, yes, and therefore had more advantages to fighting than she would. But, unlike Alucard, Liam could be just as easily killed as herself by the blessed weapons Iscariot employed as the organization was trained to kill vampires. And unlike Alucard, Liam was not someone who spent most of his existence devoted to warring with people who knew what he was and tried constantly to kill him.

Her vision had shown danger to herself and her son, but not to others. She had already lost Fumiko and Tukiko-san to Iscariot because she hadn't known exactly what was going to happen and had simply let an argument with Fumiko keep her from trying to warn the vampire more strongly before Fumiko drained that priest. Mercedes knew she couldn't live with the guilt if Iscariot killed Liam just to get to herself and Xander.

"Marrick has been back at the mansion since this past weekend," Liam was continuing to speak with a coaxing, teasing smile as his hand came to rest along the side of Mercedes's face and his thumb gently stroked her cheek. "Aaron followed him in a few days later. Denissa and some of hers, including Jacob and his little girl, are visiting from upstate this weekend. Davin and Sasha are also coming in from New York, and Henrick, Janna and Natasia will be joining them with some of theirs. We have some necessary meetings we all need to be attending this weekend here in Philly, but otherwise we could make it a rather pleasant weekend.

"Some of the other Elders have also begun to question the reasons given for you two not being present for more than a few brief social engagements, and an extended weekend altogether such as this would silence those inquiries. I promise we will make it a lovely weekend of friends all catching up with one another. The two little ones getting together during the day and having the halls echoing with screeches of laughter and play. We adults blowing off steam in the evening after such a long week, with the fledglings acting as nanny for the sleeping little ones so we can do so uninterrupted. I cannot think how this is not an excellent plan in every respect, my dearest Sunshine, so what do you say? Come to the mansion with little Xander and light up my weekend?"

Mercedes knew Liam was unaware of a number of the thoughts going through her head as she was careful to keep her mental barriers in place, even if he could undoubtedly tell she was wrestling with indecision of some sort and trying to sway her decision to his request. Contrary to what Liam was clearly hoping to accomplish, hearing that the majority of their closest friends would be at the mansion galvanized Mercedes's initial determination on what her answer needed to be.

If she told Liam anything about her vision, Mercedes knew the Elder well enough to know he wouldn't give her a choice in not accepting help and would insist she come stay with him. He'd quite likely go so far as to pack their bags himself and call Marrick to help haul them off to perceived safety. Mercedes knew she wasn't being dramatic in the thought because Liam had rushed to her side with back up against the media when her mother died to shield them from prying eyes so she and her family could mourn in peace. Which had been an unexpected, but welcome, insistence of aid when she had only called him to make him aware and ask for his company personally to have a supportive friend with her.

While running and hiding might be safer for herself and Xander, Mercedes was fairly certain Liam would not go with them in this instance. As much as Liam usually respected her decisions, even when he didn't agree with them, a direct threat to the wellbeing of someone he cared for would push him straight into over-protective mode again. When Liam got in one of those mindsets, he didn't cease his course of actions until the threat was eliminated. In this far more grave situation with Iscariot and their priest, that would quite likely get Liam killed. Everything she had learned about Anderson from Alucard made her all the more convinced she couldn't let him cross paths with Liam.

And she certainly couldn't go without telling him about the looming danger and leave him to be blindsided. With the others there for the weekend, there would only be all the more people for Iscariot to possibly kill if they tracked her down to the mansion. Which included Denissa's companion, Jacob, and his daughter, Felicia, who was only a year or so older than Xander. The idea of something happening to herself and Xander was bad enough. Possibly adding some of her closest friends and a second child to Iscariot's body count was absolutely unthinkable to Mercedes.

"Liam, I know you're making the offer with nothing but the best of intentions and out of genuine concern for our wellbeing and wanting me to have a break," Mercedes replied carefully, trying not to hurt his feelings or let on that something was wrong. "And I truly, deeply appreciate that you thought out so many of the details, but I really don't think it'd be a good idea for us to come over for the weekend."

Mercedes saw Liam's expression rapidly shift to disappointment and she could sense a great deal of displeasure with her answer. The young woman knew that the vampire was about to try arguing the matter, having seen such an expression before on a few occasions.

Mercedes tried to give an honest compromise to head off a fight as she gave his hand a gentle squeeze. "At least not this weekend, no matter how pleasant of an idea it sounds. I can't call out from work on such short notice and leave them stranded on the busiest nights of the week. I could easily lose my job for something like that. A weekend off does sound like a wonderful idea, though, and I know Xander misses Felicia. If you're willing to give me a rain check, we could see if we can arrange another get together for everyone for a weekend in the very near future when I can give my boss proper notice? Then we'd also not have to worry about all sorts of interruptions for such a visit, like the meetings you said you'd have this weekend, and we could make it a truly undisturbed and relaxing weekend for everyone."

Liam sighed in clear frustration and closed his foxfire eyes. He leaned down and rest his forehead against Mercedes's shoulder for several seconds, almost as though supporting himself against her. Liam shifted his head and his response came out as a whisper near her ear.

"Sunshine, you are far too willful and independent for your own good sometimes, and you may be the death of me someday because of it. I may be an incorrigible daimon who does not always show it in the best of ways, but I can never bring myself to truly deny you anything if it is in my power to grant your wishes."

Liam's gently spoken chastising caused Mercedes to startle and shift her face to look at him again. His remark had hit a little too close to home for exactly what she was trying to avoid have happen to him. Mercedes could indeed sense a great deal of weariness and unhappiness coming from Liam because she had refused his offer. It made Mercedes feel guilty for upsetting him because she did realize that even if he was voicing disappointment, the Elder was in fact trying as best he was capable of to be respectful of her requests.

Liam gave Mercedes a smile that didn't reach his eyes as his posture straightened once more and he wrapped his arms around her. "If you wish to postpone an extended rendezvous with friends until another weekend, darling, then I will be more than happy to accommodate the request." Liam leaned down and gave Mercedes a gentle kiss on the forehead, cool soft lips barely brushing her skin, then tilted her face up with a touch beneath her chin. "But I am still extremely concerned over the idea of you and Xander being here all by yourselves right now. I know how you feel about having your privacy, Sunshine, but perhaps you would allow me to send someone here to keep an eye on you both, just until my grand-sire has left the city?"

"That is very kind of you, Liam, but I really don't believe it will be necessary," Mercedes said with an attempt to smile when she really wanted to frown. She was touched by his concern and feeling ever more guilty for not confiding in him, even if she was doing so for the sake of keeping him out of harm's way. "I made it unmistakably clear the last time I spoke with him that I was not interested in further interactions and I truly don't think he's going to make attempts to contact me after such words were said." She added humorously to try to stop Liam from seeming so distressed, "Besides, an apartment as small as this, where am I going to stash a coffin for a short-term body guard to rest?"

Liam smirked slightly at the thought, glancing around the smallish bedroom that had Xander's furniture for holding his things in neat order lining the walls and his bed tucked into the alcove made by the walk-in closet protruding from another wall.

"That is a fair point, darling. And knowing little Xander, he would paint all over the coffin or something of that nature to make it look more attractive."

Mercedes giggled at that, easily imagining something like that taking place with how much Xander liked to alter things.

Liam sighed and said ambivalently, "I apologize if I am seeming too intrusive, Sunshine. I simply do not wish to see something happen to you or Xander. That Alucard tracked you down the next evening to question you makes me very wary and I have a difficult time thinking he would merely disappear afterwards."

Mercedes sighed in frustration.

Liam added a request nonetheless before Mercedes could protest, knowing that the seer giving her word was binding as she could not tell a lie.

"I will not continuing pushing this issue, darling, as I do not wish to upset you. But I will do so only on one condition. Promise me that if anything else happens with Alucard, anything at all, you will call me and let me bring you both to the mansion for safety's sake? It does not matter to me when a call may come in or what I am doing. I will answer and be here in mere minutes should anything happen. Your enchantments would be able to keep him immobilized long enough for me to reach you."

"If he shows up here again, I promise I will inform you," Mercedes agreed quietly to try putting Liam's mind at ease. How quickly she'd call him and whether she'd let him bring them to the mansion depended on the circumstances. She didn't want something to happen to Liam at Alucard's hands either, immobilizing enchantments notwithstanding, seen as where they had such a limited time of effect on the progenitor of vampires and she wasn't sure how much more of an effect Liam's own magical capabilities would prove to have on Alucard.

"Thank you, my Sunshine," Liam said with a return of his smile.

Mercedes felt her insides wrench with guilt as Liam accepted the promise for what he assumed it was. She knew she was splitting hairs with giving that carefully worded promise. Mercedes reminded herself that it was for Liam's own safety, before these events had started she had never done so before with him and, even unknowingly, he was placing her in a position to have to do so now. That rationalization only barely took the edge off the seer's guilt.

Liam ran one hand through Mercedes's dark brown hair, affectionately stroking strands, curly from being in a braid all night, away from her face.

"Try to speak with your boss as soon as you can about having a weekend off?" Liam asked quietly, meeting Mercedes's gaze. "The mansion always feels far too empty after you and Xander have left. Four months without you two there has been the very definition of intolerable. Unless there are others in need of accommodations for a visit, I am still staying at my penthouse because it is not near as hauntingly quiet there. I am certain our friends will be willing to make another trip on a less demanding weekend as you suggested. They have truly missed seeing you both regularly. Perhaps in the next weekend or two you and Xander could be joining me back at the mansion to spend a few days surrounded by friends who will be immensely glad for a return of your company, with all the luxuries a lady and our son deserve at their fingertips."

"You certainly know how to make a heart-tugging and alluring offer, Liam," Mercedes said wryly, a small smile pulling at her lips despite her inner turmoil.

"I am a vampire, darling," Liam said playfully with a wink. "It is practically Cosmic Law that I must tempt in every way I can conceive to get what it is I want, however selfish or altruistic my motivations are."

Mercedes couldn't help but laugh at Liam's mercurial turn in attitude and shake her head in exasperated amusement. "And yet, even with turnabouts such as that, you wonder why I have such a hard time taking you seriously sometimes," Mercedes said in good humor, trying to not have this conversation end on a sour note.

"I may be teasing and tempting, but that does not mean I am not serious in what I say, my dearest Sunshine," Liam said with a charming smile in her direction.

Liam leaned down and gave Mercedes another kiss on the forehead. His arm tightened around her waist, pulling her closer without resistance made in response to the action.

Mercedes wrapped her arms around Liam's waist as he pulled her snugly against his lean frame, resting her head against his chest. The young woman gave a small sigh, almost wishing she could just forget about doing the necessary and responsible things and accept the comforts he offered, without worries or question of the cost, as she once had been able to.

Liam said more seriously, "I know we have had a few impasses on certain things because of our differences, Mercedes. I know that I was careless enough to give you cause to wonder about the worth of my word. Even still, I hope you realize that I do care about what happens to you two. Despite my innate faults as they are, I simply wish the best for you both and cannot bear the thought of something happening to you. I have been trying the best I can to accommodate your wishes under the circumstances and mend my own side of this recent discord between us."

"I do realize that, Liam," Mercedes replied with quiet sincerity. It felt like a small lump was forming in her throat as she tilted her head up to meet Liam's intent foxfire gaze. "And I care about your wellbeing as well and value our friendship with one another far too highly to ever wish damaging it or bringing you harm. That hasn't changed. I truly don't think anything could ever make that change. But our views of what is best also have not changed. As I have already told you, I am likewise trying to do what I feel is best for Xander and I under the circumstances because I don't think this situation can be truly mended as you wish it to be."

Liam sighed again and glanced away for a moment in frustration. His angular jaw clenched, clearly holding back the first response he had, before finally nodding.

"I know that Xander's best interests and wellbeing are your priority and I truly respect that, Mercedes." Liam looked back down and met her dark eyed gaze. He gently stroked the side of her face again. "You know I will never allow harm to come to our son and I have been trying to show that I understand your other concerns for your own wellbeing. Please do not expect me to give up trying to convince you this situation is not as impossible to bridge as you have been trying to convince yourself it is. I know part of your belief to the contrary was my previous doing, but I have nothing in my existence of endless nights as profuse as time, and nothing so precious to me as what few glimpses of light I can be granted without destroying myself. I cannot accept losing you when I know we can eventually work our way past this strife. Giving up on mending things with my beloved Sunshine and keeping her and my boy in my life as they were meant to be would be entirely contrary to what I know to be right."

Liam saw Mercedes's gaze softening marginally, even as a look of wary confusion flickered over her face. He leaned down to give her a tender kiss on the lips, so there could be no mistaking his meaning.

An innocent but lingering kiss that Mercedes didn't quite freeze at, nor did she pull away from. She was deeply shocked by both his last statements and his kiss and had no idea how to react. Liam had not kissed her besides brief kisses on the cheek or forehead in the four months that had passed since their fight that had led to her and Xander returning to her apartment as their full-time residence. And despite all their talks and his promises, the Elder had been keeping all their private exchanges within the tone of friends trying to work through very complicated issues for Xander's sake as she had asked him to do.

And despite the chasteness of the kiss, the empathic young woman could sense intense love, desire and longing radiating out from the vampire. Emotions that went far beyond being simply friends. Emotions that Liam hadn't allowed to surface enough for her to sense in the last four months. Mercedes had thought that those emotions had faded away and the mercurial vampire had moved on, but they apparently hadn't and he hadn't. The emotions were as strong as they ever had been.

When Mercedes didn't pull away from him, or push him away from herself, Liam laced his fingers through her hair and gently tilted her head up further, giving him a better angle to deepen the kiss. He did so, and after several seconds of insistent caresses with his tongue, he slowly coaxed her into reciprocating.

When Liam teasingly nipped and then sucked at her lower lip, careful as always not to break skin, Mercedes couldn't help the small aroused moan that escaped her throat and her arms slid up around his neck. His tongue delved back into her mouth and this time her own met it in a passionate dance as the spark of repressed longing was steadily fanned into a flame.

Liam tightened his hold around Mercedes's slender waist as she responded with noticeably less reservation, pulling her flush against himself. He turned the kiss into an even more deeply passionate one still, allowing his amorous emotions full reign for her to sense to help fuel hers into a blaze. When a small desirous whimper came from Mercedes, Liam slowly backed her up against the wall, letting the bedroom door conceal them from view of the living room. One of her hands tugged at his hair, pulling him closer, and his kiss became demanding and ravenous in response to the silent encouragement. His hand at her waist slid up the back of her shirt and his nails caressed along her spine, causing her to arch in his arms with pleasure.

Liam's hand slid down to her ass and he easily lifted her up, and her legs instinctively went around his waist. He pressed into Mercedes with a suggestive roll of his hips, eliciting another quiet moan, this one ending with his name, muffled as he was still kissing her. Hearing her moan his name again, feeling her lithe legs wrapped around him, smelling her beckoning arousal, stoked the yearning he had been keeping hidden into a blaze dangerously close to consuming all reason. There was very little Liam would have liked more than to strip Mercedes of the clothes she was wearing and ravish her with every bit of adoration he felt as he used to be allowed to do. It would only take a simply mental influence to keep their son from taking notice, and then he could revel in the warmth of his beloved Sunshine as he longed to do.

The Elder managed to keep hold of his rationale, however, by keeping in his thoughts that there was one thing he wanted far more than just the temporary pleasures of his consort's body. He knew taking those now would possibly ruin his chances of fully reclaiming her heart, his ultimate desire that he could sacrifice anything else for.

Liam reluctantly eased the kiss to a less passionate one and then pulled his lips away from hers, leaving Mercedes more than a little breathless. He kept her held close as she trembled in his embrace from both surprise and attempting to reign in her desire that had flared up well beyond her control. A wistful smile was present as the Elder met Mercedes's conflicted gaze again. His eyes were a blaze of golden-red as he had released the glamour while embracing her, not needing to hide his true nature from her, and her own were the shining golden he adored with her senses teased to full alertness.

Liam spoke quietly, his lilting Irish accent taking over his speech as he battled to keep control of his emotions. "I know you are trying to do what you feel is right, my Sunshine. But I know you, all of you, better than any other ever has or will. No matter how I could try to coax you, you would not have returned that kiss in such fashion if you had truly banished me from your heart and resigned us to being only friends again and forever. We both know that you have not been any more happy with the way things have been these last four months than I have been. The scare at the beginning of this week has only placed that in sharper perspective for me and I cannot continue to simply hold my silence. I know where my heart lies. _Tá mo chroí istigh ionat, a_ _gréine._ "

Liam lowered his head again, seeing Mercedes's resolve deteriorating further, and whispered in her ear, "This is not how things were meant to be for the three of us, Mercedes. There is still time enough to set things safely back on course. Some part of you still knows that. We both know that is what you ultimately want. It is possible to achieve a secure and lasting resolution that we can all be content with."

The Elder gently kissed next to his consort's ear, letting his lips linger against the warm flesh he had not been permitted to come so close to for so many months. Liam allowed himself those few moments to savor the intoxicating scent of the dark magic Mercedes possessed and pumped through her veins intermingled with her sweet, rich blood. He continued his coaxing, letting his emotions be expressed with silken words

"You know in your heart that as long as my dearest Sunshine exists within my life and this world, I will always strive with an ardent desire to keep you shining brightly and devotedly blow away any clouds that may try darkening your skies. All you need do is say you will give me the chance to prove I have learned my lessons. You can end all our family's discontent and let us move past this precarious state finally, if only you'll restore the balance by once again blessing each of my unending nights with your beloved light."

"Liam… This can't… I…" Mercedes attempted a weakly murmured protest as she started to unwrap her legs from his hips so she could stand. Her protest faded off as Liam tightened his grip around her enough to hold her in place and nuzzled against the side of her neck, his emotions being given more reign again so that they could once more subdue the reservations she consciously had.

The vampire could hear Mercedes's heart pounding faster and her breath hitching as her conscious thoughts continued to struggle with her emotional responses.

"Tell me you do not love me, Mercedes," Liam demanded in a whisper against her ear. "Tell me that there is absolutely no appeal in the thought of coming back home to me. Tell me that you have no desire to marry me and be my rightful bride; that you would rather go back to having me outside of your life except as a friend you see on infrequent occasions. Be able to truthfully speak those words and I will drop this subject, never again to revisit it, and do what must be done to keep the other Elders from entirely discovering what has taken place. No matter how much it destroys what is left of my heart, I will let you be free of me as much as possible if you can tell me those things in earnest, right here, right now."

Mercedes closed her eyes, swallowed and then took a shaky breath, trying to gather the resolve to say those words and perhaps end this explosive situation before it could fully ignite again. But the unsteady words that ultimately came from the seer were: "I… I don't…" Another swallow as she felt the urge to start crying because she could only breathe the quiet confession of, "I can't say any of those things, Liam."

The Elder gave a fleeting, pleased smirk against his consort's neck. "Then it is possible to mend things, _a gréine_. Starting with this reassurance. I promise you there will be no more selfish decisions or outbursts." He kissed next to her ear again with a feather-light caress. "No more foolish escapisms." He placed another kiss along her jaw, slowly making his way to her lips. "No more external intrusions." Another kiss closer. "No more subterfuges or pretenses." Another tender kiss. "Not for either of us." A kiss at the corner of her lips.

Liam let his lips hover just a few inches above Mercedes's, waiting until she opened her eyes again to finish speaking, imploring her to rescind her previous decision with fervent words, gaze, and emotions; instead of keeping silent like her golden eyes now beseeched of him as she looked up at him with a resolve teetering closer to the edge of shattering.

"I promise you, Mercedes, I have learned all my lessons from this and things will be different this time. We will make things work properly for our family as we aspired to. Simply come back home to me with our son and a promise that you will not leave me ever again, _a gréine_ , and I swear to the Gods that every moment of my existence shared with you will be ruled by the solitary desire of making certain I never again give you the slightest cause to regret your decision to be with me, to doubt my devout love for you and our family above all things."

Liam slowly began to lower his lips towards Mercedes's for one last kiss that should push her resolve over the edge, but a clatter of dishes in the sink coming from the kitchen followed by Xander calling out- "Mama! Liam! I all done eating!"- effectively halted his estranged parents just before the second impassioned kiss could take place.

Mercedes hung her head, almost thankful for the abrupt interruption that allowed her to gather back up the thoughts Liam had so skillfully and effectively scattered. Her eyes shifted back to their usual brown color as her self-control shakily returned.

Liam did indeed know her better than any other. Knew how to read her mind and heart without extending supernatural powers because they had once allowed each other to explore those places without restrictions and they were now as familiar to the other as a well-read book. Liam well knew that there were dangerous pitfalls to herself being an empath as surely as there were significant benefits. Even if he was doing so out of love, the Elder was still more than willing to use that knowledge to try influencing her to accede to his request because his hypnotic vampiric powers couldn't penetrate the enchanted barrier carefully created in her mind, and mind control would subvert his success in gaining what he wanted in this instance anyway.

Threats, violent ultimatums, mind control- such things couldn't back a seer into be bound to her word, as she hadn't given it willingly. She could make a vow and still break it, as any normal person could, under such circumstances. It was one of the only protections granted to a seer, by whatever divine force there was that made such rules, to keep their gifts from being misused. Being gently coaxed and teased into the vow in such fashions as Liam was attempting, however, didn't count as forcing a vow.

It was the difference between a well-made and alluring argument that changed a person's mind and a gun held to their son's head with a threat to pull the trigger if something wasn't agreed to.

Even if it had been given in the heat of the moment, with her mind clouded by amorous emotions (both hers and his), an unequivocal promise to go home to Liam and never leave him again would have bound her as thoroughly as if it had been made with a clear head because she had allowed herself to feel and be enwrapped in such emotions and the vow had been her own choice to make, no threats made to force her hand. Liam had, in fact, made a point to make it clear that there were no threats, that she could instead be free of him as much as was possible without negative backlash if she refused to make that promise.

The young woman inwardly chastised herself for allowing her resolve to slip so much, for allowing her emotions to be used against herself. Especially when there was so much that could go wrong by doing so.

And even as Mercedes mentally berated herself, the part of her mind that the vampire had enticed back into wakefulness was yelling right back at her, demanding to know if it was really worth being forced back into hibernation and denying herself a chance to see if perhaps Liam had sincerely learned a lesson and those desires they had once shared could come to pass if she gave him one last chance. She loved him, and she knew he loved her, so they should be able to fix things if they continued to actively work past their differences.

Mercedes bit her lower lip with a sigh, shoving those thoughts out of her consideration for the time being as she knew that such things weren't as simplistic as she once naively thought them to be. Love, while a powerful thing, couldn't fix everything wrong in a relationship; especially when those involved were an Elder vampire and a human seer who wielded magic.

A frustrated sigh that the Elder vampire echoed, seeing Mercedes's expression returning to one more reserved, knowing the moment had been broken and lost for the time being. As deeply as Liam loved his son, there were times like these where the little one made reconciliation far more complicated. This would have to be continued at a time when the little one, or any other, wasn't able to interrupt them and he could work his way past his Sunshine's ridiculously high defenses to coax her back.

At least now she understood where he truly stood, and he had forced her to admit a few things to herself about her own feelings that would hopefully, finally, lead to undoing what had been caused by his own mistakes. And he had thankfully been able to extract such a passionate response out of her, wrestle that confession of her feelings out of her, after having spent the last four months carefully biding his time and repairing what could be repaired, which meant there was reason to continue believing as he did. One way or other, he was going to win his consort's heart back and they'd be married in six months' time, on the winter solstice, as originally planned. Liam wasn't going to accept any other avenue as possible.

Xander could be heard making his way towards the bedroom, only seconds away from joining them. Mercedes slipped away from the embrace Liam still had her wrapped in, this time the Elder allowing her to retreat. He took a few steps away from her as he swiftly renewed the glamour on his eyes and straightened his jacket and hair with a moment's concentration of his telekinesis to shift them as they had been.

"Liam, awe you staying fow awhile?" Xander asked hopefully with his massive gap-toothed grin as he came to a halt in the doorway. "Mama bought me new Legos an' I want to show you!"

"I can stay for a little while before I have to leave for yet another gods-awful meeting with the other Elders and then go home to take a good long nap," Liam said with a smile just as big as the little boy's. He glanced over at Mercedes, asking a bit more seriously, "If mommy does not mind me staying a little longer today, that is?"

"Far be it from me to ever interrupt two children who wish to play," Mercedes agreed, likewise trying to return his smile with an equal cheerfulness so Xander wouldn't realize anything was amiss between them.

"Yay!" Xander exclaimed. He grabbed Liam's hand and pulled him across the room to show him the new Lego sets he had gotten since the last time Liam had seen him.

"Ha! Is that X-men figures they have come out with now?" Liam asked with a grin as Xander held up some of the models that he had built.

"Yep! Dis one is Hawkeye." Xander pointed with all the seriousness a small child knowledgeable in comic superheroes and villains could possess. "An' dis is his twuck. I built the twuck all by myself, Liam!"

"Is that so, my little man?" Liam said, suitably amazed as Xander expected. He crouched down to look at the truck. Xander carefully handed his most recent achievement over to his adopted father and Liam inspected it. "All the little lights and moving parts? You managed to put this together all by yourself, Xander?"

"Mhm," Xander nodded gravely. "All by myself, Liam! Dey didn' add the lights, so I put 'em in on my own fwom anotha set. I gonna be a Lego buildin' awchitec' an' inwentow."

Mercedes could sense Liam give her a quick poke at her mind as a faintly confused look passed over his face. She swiftly opened her thoughts enough to allow him, already knowing why Liam was using the more circumspect way of speaking because it wasn't the first time he had done so since Xander had lost so many teeth.

"Speech translation, darling? Inwentow?" Liam asked telepathically to avoid embarrassing Xander.

"Inventor," Mercedes supplied, stifling a giggle. "It's his newest favorite word."

Liam gave her a thankful smile, politely broke off the mental connection, and then turned his gaze back to the boy.

"You are getting to be an excellent Lego architect and inventor, Xander," Liam said, handing back the truck to Xander. "That is a complex model for such a young man to be making and redesigning!"

"Mhm!" Xander said proudly. He picked up another model, "an' dis is Deadpool an' his hewicopta."

"They even gave Deadpool one of his classic costumes!" Liam said with another genuinely pleased grin, likewise taking the model to look at it. "Do you think Hawkeye is fast enough to escape such a devious mutant as Deadpool?"

Xander grinned at the challenge, "Uh-huh. Hawkeye an' his twuck awe supa fas'!"

"Helicopters are fast in their own rights," Liam teasingly insisted. "Hawkeye might find himself eating jet fumes seconds before that truck gets blasted with the missiles."

"Uh-uh! Cuz Deadpool is gonna be too busy eatin' dust an' Hawkeye's awows!"

"Oh now you have gone too far! That is a boast that cannot go unchallenged."

Mercedes smiled and rolled her eyes as she watched Xander begin the race around the room with the truck and Liam followed after with the helicopter. Her smile became more melancholy as she watched Liam chase Xander out to the living room, acting like a normal father playing with the child he had claimed as his own son.

As touching as the sight was, it served to strengthen Mercedes's resolve to handle Iscariot without involving Liam. She did her best to set her (now exponentially more conflicted) thoughts about their personal issues to the back of her mind where she felt they belonged.

Even though Liam was an Elder vampire with power enough to keep his position among the other ageless forces of darkness, Mercedes was one of the few allowed to see that he was in many ways more truly akin to a kid-at-heart who happened to have a love of finer things in life and pleasurable company, whatever classifications either could be found within.

Whatever disagreements they had, and whatever help Liam would offer despite the upsets between them should he be made aware of the current situation, Mercedes knew one thing definitively, the same thing she had known when she first had her vision. She couldn't bear the thought of imposing further into Liam's life and placing him in Iscariot's path to be possibly destroyed with herself and Xander.

Mercedes tried not to think too hard on what it might do to the man she had once been promised to be married to, the man who still wanted them to be married and be a family as they had once planned, if she failed and they didn't survive. She could only hope Liam would be able to understand her reasons and find it in his heart to forgive her for being too weak to survive like she had understood and forgiven him for his own faults in the past.

.

.

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A/N: So... new chapter up. RiverStyx, thanks for the review. It made me laugh my ass off when my phone delivered the email update.

And yeah... Seems Mercedes might have been a bit deceptive in her wording, and Alucard might have been on to something when he questioned her on the way she answered...

What happened between Liam and Mercedes to cause a split? What did the Elder do to shatter her trust, that she'd risk the wrath of the other Elders should they find out they're not a couple any longer?

*singsong voice* I'll never tell...

...

...

...

Actually, I will. But you have to wait for those answers.

Two things I will tell. 1) She had very good reasons for answering how she did. and 2) I didn't make a mistake when using the term "consort" for this chapter, though Mercedes gave Alucard a pretty detailed explanation of the differences between companions, consorts and brides... Hm... just what happened the year before? And how exactly is it going to effect future events?

Tune in and find out.

Edit: Someone PMed me awhile back ago, asking how one belly dances to Rock or Metal, as Mercedes does at the bar...

Easy answer: go to Youtube, look up Diana Bastet, Metal Belly dancer; or Mahafsoun, Metal Bellydance; or Twiglet Belly Dance doing Within Temptation's "Angel". That'll give you a pretty good idea. ;-) I'm a bellydancer of 12 years, taught by my elder sisters, and know a lot of belly dancers. I tend to veer closer to traditional Arabic dance, but tribal fusion and rock or metal interpretations can get pretty fun. You can belly dance to just about anything with the right choreography knowledge. Sorry for taking so long to get around to answering that, the message got buried by some others.


	20. Chapter 20 High Priestess and Hierophant

Chapter Twenty

The High Priestess and The Hierophant

Liam left half an hour later to go to the meeting he had. He reminded Mercedes before leaving of her promise to call him should Alucard return, and to speak with her boss tonight about requesting a weekend off. Mercedes agreed to both again- suggesting for the latter that two weekends from this one would likely be best as she'd already have Thursday and Sunday off, and therefore they could have a longer visit with their friends- as she walked him outside. Liam asked her to also think about his interrupted request, as he had meant every promise in all seriousness and he would gladly bring them back home even sooner should Mercedes decide to change her mind for any reason. She carefully said she'd consider the request, but was not going to give any hasty answers one way or other and needed a fair chance to consider it without pressure. Liam accepted that concession with good grace, placed a gentle kiss to her cheek, and they bid each other good day.

Mercedes watched Liam walk around the corner of the building and a few seconds later a large golden-brown hawk was flying up from the back of the five story brick building. The falcon swept down towards Mercedes, circling playfully once over the heiress and causing her to laugh, and then he sped off into the sky.

Mercedes's laughter faded quickly and she stood outside quietly until the hawk could no longer be seen.

'Liam, a hawk was certainly an apt form for you to take.' Mercedes couldn't help the dispirited thought with as raw as her emotions were from the stress she was under, trying to hold back tears and failing. 'Always flying free. Even if you're tamer than most of your kind, it doesn't change that you still have a wild spirit that does not take well to captivity and the rules of humans… And the gods know I certainly do not have it in my heart to try to clip your wings or tie you down with jesses just because I can never join you in your flights…'

Mercedes sat down on the front steps with a confused and frustrated sigh, wiping away her tears. She lit a cigarette as more tears continued to gather, taking a long drag as she tried to quiet her mind. The young woman's thoughts stubbornly continued to spin about in her head like the smoke rising from her cigarette and spinning in the open air.

'…Sometimes I can't help but think it might have been better for me to have never taken your suggestion and moved here. Or wonder if I should try to say or do something more than I already have done to make you give up such hopes and fly away permanently... I know that anything I say or do would likely continue to fail to dissuade you, though… And you are correct in that I do know Xander and I would both miss your company too much to wish it entirely gone… And it is already too late to move away and completely sever things between us…"

Mercedes hung her head and did her best to once more harden her resolve that Liam had chipped so deeply away at.

' _Par les dieux_ … How do I get myself into such impossible messes? If Xander had finished breakfast a minute later, Liam may very well have gotten his way in making me overlook our issues and his past actions to give him one last chance to resolve this mess in the direction he wants. While he may have learned some lessons, his twisting and turning situations like that was part of why things went so wrong! Even if he does it out of love, I couldn't stand the manipulations and using my own gifts against me like he does! And no matter what we may or may not desire or what compromises we try, we both know it can never truly be as he really wishes for. I know that now, just as I realized it in February… Even if I wish I didn't… Trying to act as though circumstances were otherwise again would be living a constant lie that would hurt us both even more deeply in the end. I already decided I couldn't live like that …

'Of course, we've been also living a lie the last four months to likewise avoid any harm. And I know Liam is right and he can only keep it hidden for just so long… Either way, there are lies and danger, so I guess it comes down to choosing the lesser of the two dangers… At least I know that Liam does love us both and is just trying in the ways he knows best to work things out between us and keep us safe… But even if I wanted to change my mind and give him one last chance, try to forgive him for his innate faults as he forgives mine, going back home to Liam right now, permanently and unconditionally as he wants, would very likely get him and the others killed. I can't do that to them! Hell, doing so would be a direct violation of what a bride is sworn to do as I would be bringing almost certain death upon Liam and the other Elders. I'd be just proving what a mistake this whole thing was to begin with! Gods, why does everything always seem to hit all at once?!'

Mercedes finally forced her mind away from thoughts of the ongoing complicated issues with Liam. For the sake of her own sanity and survival, she couldn't concentrate on that right now and made herself concentrate on the more immediate concerns. If she could survive this mess with Iscariot, she'd then have time to try to sort out the problems with Liam and would have at least proven that she wasn't completely unworthy of having been deemed the exception to the Elders' rules. Instead of playing a game of Sudoku while she smoked, Mercedes's mind went to the more challenging puzzle of trying to figure out how to survive against Anderson when he eventually showed his face.

She had thought about it off and on since she first found out about Anderson, and since last night it was a thought she couldn't let go of, no matter how much the resolution to her problem evaded her or how badly she wanted to sleep. It seemed as impossible to solve as the issues with Liam and she didn't even have the luxury of having nearly as much time to figure out this Anderson problem as she had had with the other.

'The man is a priest backed by an organization like Iscariot, apparently has the capability of hiding even more blades on himself than even Davin can, and can use those blades to cut through even something like a train,' Mercedes once more ran through all the information Alucard had told her about the Catholic priest. 'Alucard said he was about as fast as the average vampire and is apparently capable of performing blessing enchantments powerful enough to give even a vampire like Alucard no end of trouble. He can also regenerate near as fast as a vampire, a bullet to the brain didn't keep him down, and even cutting off his arms didn't stop him from trying to make a final attack before making some sort of magical retreat.'

Mercedes sighed in frustration and her gamer-geek side peeked out its head as she thought, 'The man truly is a tank. A legit, real-life, epic fucking level paladin tank. And Iscariot is sending the end game boss over to annihilate the lower level rogue cleric and her son.'

Mercedes hung her head in aggravation, trying again to desperately figure out how survive.

'Alucard said my best option was to hope my ward would immobilize him, have the hounds attack him, deflect his blows as best as I can and try to hurt him badly enough in turn to make him run. Tukiko san, Liam and Davin all taught me to play to my strengths and be a hit-and-run fighter, so I may be fast enough to keep up with Anderson defensively. Deflect some of his attacks with my weapons, assuming his blades don't slice straight through them, or with the same barrier technique I used to get Alucard's hand off my throat that night in the alley. But that man is as tall as Alucard or Marrick and getting past his reach to land any hits is going to be near impossible. And my immobilization ward is meant for vampires, not humans. So, like I told Alucard, it's not likely it will work. Anderson was able to slice straight through Shadowsnake. My hounds are higher caliber demons, faster and more deadly, but they'll still be just as vulnerable to those blessed blades of Anderson's if they take a blow.

'Alucard also said Anderson also has his own enchantments of some sort that occasionally get used to block vampiric summoning and shifting. I don't shift, but I do summon my dogs and I'm not certain if his enchantments will hinder that, or if because I'm human and my process of summoning them is different I'll be able to call them up. Shadowsnake was in the vision, but Anderson just slashed him, he didn't use an enchantment. And even with the hounds, how the hell am I supposed to injure him bad enough to make him run? I don't have the strength to go hacking off limbs. Even a sword through the chest or a slit throat doesn't sound like it'd do much good as he'd just heal like when Alucard shot him in the head. And even if I do manage to injure him enough to make him run, the bastard sounds persistent and he may just come back once healed to try his hand at killing us again. Though, if I can make him run, it would at least give me more time to try figuring out how to kill the gods-cursed priest or at least find out why they're sending him after me. But how the hell can I injure badly enough someone that even the sire of all vampires can't keep down long?'

Finished with her cigarette, Mercedes went back inside.

Xander was in the living room and had pulled out his coloring supplies. She held back a sigh and faked a smile as her son looked up from his drawing long enough to blow a kiss and wave to her. Not wanting her son to see her upset, Mercedes let him stay absorbed in his coloring and went to his bedroom to continue thinking.

Mercedes kept running round and round in the same circles that she had been since having her vision and subsequently finding out about Anderson and his powers.

After nearly 45 minutes of coming up with no ideas on what to do, with the morning slowly but implacably passing, Mercedes's frustration was reaching all new heights. It was still eight hours off from when she had to go to work, just after 8am, she'd have to catch the bus that left at 4:15 pm to be on time for work at 5pm, but then she'd be leaving her son alone and with no vampire protector nearby in case Iscariot showed. Even if they didn't attack while she was gone, which was admittedly a lower risk comparatively speaking in this situation, either tonight or Sunday night they were going to attack when she was even further exhausted from a long night at work and the weekend.

Finally feeling hopeless enough, Mercedes decided to give a last ditch effort to help contemplate the situation. She went into the bedroom closet and dragged her chest of ritual and enchantment supplies from the back. Opening the lid, she shifted aside smaller boxes containing various stones, rare and common alike, or boxes of more damageable materials, and some bags of herbs that had fallen on top of the little willow-wood box she was looking for.

Mercedes opened up that box, which was carved along every inch with iris blossoms, and pulled out her tarot deck. It was an older deck, though by no means an antique, that had a single printing and then had been discontinued. It had been created the same year Mercedes was born and was based off the Greek mythos, which she had always gravitated to the most. An older human friend of hers who owned a pagan shop had had a different copy of the deck and allowed Mercedes to use it once to try it out as the friend rarely used it anymore. Even though it had been another's deck and unfamiliar to her, it had given the clearest reading Mercedes had ever attempted before. She couldn't convince her friend to sell it to her for any price, the deck had too much sentimental value.

Mercedes had then spent the next eight years hunting for the deck currently in her hands- regularly searching pagan shops that sold out of print and foreign decks, new age festivals and metaphysical conventions, and running search after search online. She finally found it for sale on Ebay of all places, for a substantially higher price compared to most decks people could simply buy from a Barnes and Nobles, nearly as high as some antique hand-painted decks. But it was surprisingly in near perfect condition, as though it had been forgotten in a box somewhere and then rediscovered and tossed online for sale by someone who didn't care much about using it themselves. Mercedes had gladly paid the price after searching so long for it. And it had been worth the time and money expended, as this copy of the deck had never failed to provide some sort of clear answer.

Mercedes closed the lid of the main storage box to use the flat surface as a table. She held her tarot deck with both hands, eyes closed and letting her mind's senses open and focus on the deck. The deck appeared in her mind as nothing but blank, black cards. They were without magical energy on their own and would remain that way until her question was fixed in her mind and her energy reached out to the cards. As she was teaching her best friend Val, who was not a seer as she was but did have enough ability to tap into magic and use cards- to have a true card reading happen, as opposed to simply shuffling a deck and seeing what came up, one had to have a clear question in mind to receive a clear answer and the person asking the question had to have a strong desire to know the answer to act as a catalyst for the reader to focus magical energy and make it take form within the cards to provide an answer.

Fortunately, Mercedes was such a seer who could focus energy through a catalyst and so she could read for herself so long as she had a clear question in mind and a strong enough will to know the answer. Some readers refused to do card readings for themselves, not wanting their own hopes to influence the cards and force false answers, but Mercedes was mentally grounded enough to set up a reading detached and then see all sides of the reading, not just what she might want to see. However, her step-grandmother had also engrained it into her mind to be careful about how often she read cards for herself, to only use them as a last resort to try to solve a problem. Too many readers became addicted to trying to divine the future and ended up becoming mentally paralyzed; unable to make decisions, great or small, on their own without consulting the cards. The pagan priestess had seen some extent of that with Fumiko, who had been absolutely delighted with the discovery of Mercedes's ability. The little vampire had frequently asked, sometimes manipulated, her to divine answers when she was in debate on any number of matters, regardless of caution from the seer about it not being wise to become so dependent on the cards. But Mercedes was certain that this counted as a justified cause to consult the cards and seek her answers.

Mercedes took a deep breath, calming her weary mind. Focusing with a long-trained practice, she fixed the thought in her mind:

'Show me, if there is a way, how I can defend and survive against the Catholic priest of Iscariot, Alexander Anderson, when he comes here to kill my son and I.'

Mercedes kept that thought in mind, making sure to keep it just the requested information devoid of expected answers, repeating the thought over and over as a directive to the energy she would summon. She began to slowly shuffle the deck, allowing some of her own energy to filter into it.

For a few minutes the deck remained dark and inactive in her mind as her energy wrapped around the cards and probed each. Undeterred, knowing it could take time, Mercedes continued to focus with single-minded determination on her question and shuffled the cards, waiting for her energy to respond.

The cards began to slowly glow as one in her mind, violet light building as the willed directive took effect. Her energy began to attach to the needed cards, making them glow brighter than the rest, and her hands automatically brought them to the top of the deck. The seer continued shuffling until all the cards required were grouped together.

There were five this time and Mercedes separated those from the deck. The seer shuffled those five together (which was more just mixing the order when there was so few) until an intuitive image came to mind of the proper layout to be used and a feeling of those cards now being in the proper order for that layout.

Mercedes opened her eyes and saw the five cards in her hand still glowing faintly with energy. Two cards were meant to face one another, and a column of three stood between the two. A layout meant to show two sides of a confrontation, with the cards in the middle telling a story for resolution, to be read top to bottom. A less traditional layout that her step-grandmother had taught her. Taking a deep breath, Mercedes began to lay the cards out to see what they had to say.

The first card, the solitary card to the left, was meant for herself as the questioner. Mercedes was not the least surprised when one of the two cards that usually represented herself came up. The High Priestess. The other card that sometimes represented her was the Queen of Swords. The High Priestess was a card that represented much as it sounded. One who harnesses one's inner potential and seeks knowledge of an esoteric sort; who delves into the realms of magic and taps into the forces one finds there.

The second card, the solitary card to the right, was meant to represent the opposing force. The resulting card was The Hierophant. In her deck, as it also was for this layout's set up, The Hierophant was The High Priestess's opposing force. It represented one who turned to traditional knowledge, religious-bound and driven by philosophical dictates rather than their inner guidance. Mercedes couldn't help but note that seemed to have Anderson down to the letter and was a fitting representation for this layout.

'Okay, cards, so far you have the right direction and show the two opposing forces,' Mercedes thought. Even though she knew the reading itself came from her own power and not the inanimate objects, their design that she related to so easily aided her understanding of their meanings on an innate level and therefore aided in her energy attaching to the proper cards to express the answer to her questions. 'Please let these next cards show me if and how I can survive The Hierophant.'

With breath metaphorically held, Mercedes placed the next cards to make the column that would form between the two.

The third card, at the top of the column, was the 9 of swords. A card of one's mind being tormented by fears of impending doom. Unlike some other cards in her deck, this card of ill fate had the subtle inference that said doom can be averted if one approaches the situation rationally and with an eye for all outside factors, but allowing fears to take hold will cause one to miss important details and bring down the fate one fears most.

The fourth card, in the middle of the column, was Strength. Strength in mind and body. But said strength could go in two directions. If left to run wild, like the Nemean Lion, it leads to uncontrolled destruction. If the strength is wrestled under control, as the card depicted the Greek hero Heracles defeating the lion, then it allows true mastery of oneself and using that power of strength for the betterment of the situation.

The fifth card, at the bottom of the column, was The Devil. Unlike many tarot decks, this one did not depict The Devil in a negative sense or a card of ill omen. Here the card was Pan and represented confronting one's inner world. Those primeval instincts that one keeps hidden within because the macrocosm is not accepting of 'uncivilized' inclinations.

And in Mercedes's deck, there was a direct correlation between certain Major Arcana cards when brought up in the same reading and depending on their positions. Here, the cards of Strength and The Devil interplayed off one another. The lion was easily accessible through the cave it resided in, whereas Pan was hidden in the bowels of the earth. If The Devil is reached down into and acknowledged, then the realization of those instincts feeds Strength's hero, rather than its lion, when it is likewise harnessed properly.

Mercedes leaned back from the cards, contemplating the meanings that she knew by heart from studying them, and the myths that inspired them, so devotedly.

'The meaning is clear enough,' Mercedes thought with a small level of relief. 'The cards are showing Anderson as the opposing force, but they're reading that the deciding factor in this conflict is within me. Our deaths are not a foregone conclusion or resting within Anderson's power. Fears plaguing me are keeping from gaining a clear view of the situation and finding the potential rational solution, even though one is available. That is what brought me to reading the cards, even if I did not know whether or not there was a solution to this. There is a strength I need to tap, one that I have the ability to be master over, that can be harnessed to solve the problem. And that strength is derived from something within me, and it is not on the conscious and traditional level, but on a primeval level. Something that is not considered acceptable and remains hidden.'

Mercedes glanced at the card representing herself again- The High Priestess. If it was the Queen of Swords it would indicate herself in her mundane aspects. The High Priestess turned up when it was a matter of magical issues, in relation to her powers as a seer and a pagan priestess.

'Well, it's obvious that the priest and Iscariot find my powers unacceptable and I have spent most of my life hiding them as best as I can. It's not my mundane side, such as my weapon skills, that will save me, but my magic. And it won't even be an outside source connected to my magic, like my hounds, but something I do personally. The Strength card makes that almost certain. But I have no idea what I can do with the limited powers I have against someone like Anderson.'

Mercedes sighed, trying to think calmly and not let her fears continue to cloud her thinking.

'Come on, Mercedes, think!" the young woman chastised herself. 'Don't concentrate so much on Anderson's abilities, concentrate on your own. He may be physically stronger and able to do damage to even a powerful vampire like Alucard, and may be able to regenerate from damage done to himself, even from someone like Alucard, but he's not invincible. There is something here you're missing. Something within you that can face this threat and allow you to at least survive.'

Mercedes looked at the layout of the cards again, trying to contemplate what she was missing.

'What am I not seeing? What am I not tapping within myself as a seer and priestess that can be used against Anderson to possibly survive when he comes barreling in here with bayonets slashing? He's an opposing force I can somehow handle if I figure out what I'm not recognizing, not the holy herald of inevitable death…'

And then, something slipped into place in her mind and the pieces of the puzzle fit together.

Mercedes knew in a flash of intuition what she had been missing.

The pagan priestess knew what she could do to possibly survive and protect her son, and felt a surge of excited hope as she recognized it.

Mercedes quickly picked up her cards, put them back in their little wooden box, and flipped open her supply chest. She set the box inside and began rifling through her ritual and enchantment making supplies.

The enchantress grabbed the items she needed, set them aside, then went out to the living room. She turned off her cell phone so she wouldn't be interrupted with calls from her grandparents or Val or Darcy.

"Xander, _mon petit cher_ ," Mercedes said as she went to the built in bookshelf and began pulling some jewelry making tools down.

" _Oui_ , mama," the little boy replied, drawing a picture of what looked like Spiderman facing off with Doctor Oc.

"I'm going to be working on a project. Please be a good boy and let me work in peace? I'll be using some of my tools and I don't want you to get hurt if you come running in, or myself to get hurt if you surprise me," Mercedes requested, grabbing the electric engraving tools and her soldering materials relevant to her task.

"D'accowd mama," Xander agreed readily. The child was used to his mother needing concentration and no disturbances when working on her art projects and using tools that had the potential to cause injury.

" _Merci beaucoup, mon petit cher_ ," Mercedes said with a smile. " _Je t'adore_."

"I wuff you too, mama," Xander replied, still concentrating on his drawings.

Mercedes leaned down and gave her son a kiss on the head, then brought the arm-load of supplies into her bedroom.

She dug out a sketch pad from the closet and got to work drawing up a rough reference model she would work by, making sure all elements in the design she had in mind would correspond properly before undertaking the actual project. Mercedes was hoping she could finish at least the major points of her idea before work. She likewise hoped that those secondary tasks she knew she likely couldn't get to would be minor enough that, if they had to wait until tomorrow to get done, it wouldn't be the deciding factor if Iscariot's attack came tonight instead of Sunday.

With Alucard having warned the priest wouldn't likely wait until Sunday, Mercedes wasn't going to count on the extra time and set about getting as much done now as possible, regardless of loss of sleep.

.

.

.

When 4pm rolled around and Mercedes was having to pass Xander duties off to Geina, she was, physically speaking, running on fumes. She had taken a short break to make Xander lunch, but otherwise hadn't stopped working all afternoon. Instead of taking the time to run to the store to pick up a new steak for dinner, she made up a quick vegetable stir fry while Xander ate his lunch for Geina to reheat for herself and Xander at dinner time.

Several cups of coffee were doing their job and keeping Mercedes on her feet and coherent, but she was definitely feeling the effects of sleep-deprivation with the all over weakness of body, occasional muscle tremors and blurred vision plaguing her, and feeling like her brain had been replaced by cotton. She hadn't been able to work as fast as she normally would have, having to double check everything she was doing before doing it to make sure she wasn't accidentally doing something incorrectly due to exhausted oversight or shaky hands. Mercedes was also concerned about leaving Xander with only the elderly Geina to watch over him, but knew there was no helping it unless she called out of work. Which would be suspicious as she almost never called out of work.

Despite the physical exhaustion and worry for her son, though, Mercedes was actually quite satisfied with herself. The most important task she had conceived was finished in both aspects needed, and so was one of the secondary projects. They weren't perfect. If she had more time she knew she could likely think of improvements on the designs. If she wasn't so exhausted she would have done a more elegant job of transferring the designs to reality. Given the time constraints she was under, and that she had to work with what she immediately had on hand, the enchantress was still pleased with her work. Several years of working in various art mediums lent itself well to other more critical endeavors. Her grandparents may not have been happy when she had decided to switch the majority of her classes from the path they had wanted her to study, but she had reasons for wanting to learn what she did, and it hadn't been simply a love of art like she had told them.

Mercedes blared her iPod to help keep her mind active once she stepped onto the bus, concentrating on the music to help psych herself up to make it through her shift.

She was halfway to work when she realized she forgot to bring her cell phone with her.

' _Baiser ma vie_!' Mercedes vehemently swore in her head.

After a few panicked moments, Mercedes decided it wasn't worth being late to work to hop off the bus, run a few blocks over to catch the next route that would head close to her home, and then have to come back. Geina had the bar's number, and CJ's and Tony's, if something happened and Mercedes was only able to check her cell phone on breaks anyways. If someone else called her cell, it could wait until she got home. If it was some sort of emergency, anyone important, like family and her closest friends, also had her work number and a couple of them also had her coworker's numbers.

With having Xander and being a single mom, Mercedes tried to make certain that those close to her had ways to reach her or each other should something happen. Even still, she was aggravated with herself for forgetting her phone, especially given the current looming issue with Iscariot. Mercedes spent the rest of the ride to work mentally berating herself.

Mercedes lit a cigarette as soon as she got off the bus, trying to calm her stressed nerves a little before she had to start her shift.

As Mercedes walked up the street that her work was located at, she saw Jackie, the bar's owner, out in front of the building with CJ and Tony and some of their regulars. The owner of the restaurant that was also in their building, some of the employees of that establishment, and likewise people who worked in the corner store that was on the other side of the bar in their building, were all out on the sidewalk too. There were also two fire trucks, a couple of police cars and an ambulance parked on the street and effectively blocking all traffic because this was an older part of Center City and the roads were just barely large enough for two cars to pass by one another if there were no cars parked.

Mercedes began to walk faster, wondering with rapidly growing fear what had happened.

She tried not to automatically jump to some Iscariot or Alucard related conclusion, her coworkers were still alive, but Jackie was looking incredibly upset and the others weren't looking exactly calm either.

The sarcastic comment she made to Alucard, in regards to blocking CJ and Tony's minds so she wouldn't come to work the next day and find out people had gone missing, came to Mercedes's mind and she felt the sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach of guilt and dread.

'If he's murdered someone here to get back at me for last night, I swear, I don't care if he's already taken off back to England, I'll hunt his undead ass down and find some way to kill him!' Mercedes thought furiously. She tried not to start making up scenarios in her head, but after the fight with Alucard last night she was frightened something had happened on her account.

"Tony! CJ! Jackie!" Mercedes called out as soon as she was in shouting distance. All three turned her way. "What's going on here? What happened?!"

"Didn't you get my or CJ's calls?" Jackie asked as Mercedes gave up on calmly walking and jogged over to find out some sort of information on what had happened.

Some part of Mercedes's mind sarcastically pointed out to her that it was hard to look upset when you were wearing jingly hip scarves and they were making their usual cheerfully chiming noises while you jog. They just didn't set an 'I'm worried' kind of image.

"No," Mercedes said, cringing slightly over leaving her phone off and then forgetting it altogether. She had good reason with needing to concentrate and then being exhausted, but it was now biting her in the ass and she should have seen it coming. Her life seemed to be becoming a constant example of Murphy's Law. "Phone issues. I'm sorry, Jackie. What happened here?"

"Main water pipe busted a little over an hour ago and flooded out the basement for the entire building," Jackie said, running a manicured hand back through her bright red permed hair in a gesture of stress. "One of the boys over at the restaurant went down to turn off the water valve and run the pump before something could short-circuit and blow the wiring. But there were some frayed wires on the cord for the pump and he ended up electrocuting himself something fierce."

"Oh gods! Is he alive?" Mercedes asked, simultaneously relieved it wasn't anything vampire related and concerned for the guy who got injured. She felt some of the tension release in her body now that she had an answer and mentally kicked herself for getting too paranoid and jumping at shadows. Though, it also wouldn't be wise to drop her guard either. This constant vigilance without jumping the gun, or trying to not act suspicious and end up tipping off Iscariot in some way that could trigger the attack before its time, was almost as fatiguing as the sleep-deprivation.

"He's alive for now, but he's a mess," Jackie was saying as she reached into her Prada bag and pulled out a pack of imported cigarettes. "Besides burns from the electricity, the paramedics said he was completely knocked out and until he gets scanned at the hospital and wakes up, if he wakes up, they're not going to know if he has permanent brain damage or how bad it is. And if someone getting injured isn't bad enough," Jackie paused to light a cigarette, then blew out a puff of smoke and continued with a frustrated wave of her hand at the building, "the accident caused some sort of electrical surge. These old fucking buildings have shit for wiring and it caused a small fire in one of the walls. The fire department said thanks to the cement ceiling, the flooded floor, and the metal support beams in the basement that there didn't appear to be serious structural damage, its mostly smoke stains and charred spots on one wall where the fire crept up between some cracks, but the electricity is out, the basement is still flooded and that section of wall is going to need to be replaced."

"So I'm guessing you called me to tell me not to come in as the bar is going to be closed until repairs are done," Mercedes said rhetorically, a little put-off by Jackie sounding far more concerned about the building than the person who was injured. And her empathy was likewise picking up more irritation from her boss when the later was mentioned, so she knew she wasn't misinterpreting Jackie's reaction.

"Yep," Jackie said with a frustrated huff. "Couldn't have happened earlier in the week, could it? Had to be just in time for the weekend rush!"

"Cuz I'm sure the day of the week would matter to the poor guy who got electrocuted," CJ piped in, looking at Jackie in undisguised horror in regards to her attitude.

"CJ, don't even start with me today!" Jackie snapped at said employee, pointing at him with her cigarette. "I feel bad for him too, but I'm the one who owns this bar and not only are we not going to be getting the usual income for the weekend, which is usually the equivalent of the other five days of the week combined, and we are likely not going to be open well into a few weekends, I'm also going to have to shell out money to get everything fixed. We're talking minimum of paying an electrician for new wiring, whatever the plumber is going to cost to fix the pipe, carpenters for the wall. And if there's more damage than that indicated, possibly other people too, which means more money being spent."

CJ turned away from Jackie rather than snap back at her. He could be a smartass, but teasing your coworker and pissing off your boss were two different things if you wanted to keep a job and he knew it. Even when said boss was in the ethical wrong. CJ settled for making a face that Mercedes and Tony could see but Jackie could not.

Jackie was actually walking off, muttering irritably about needing to talk to the owner of the restaurant about what was going to need to be done about repairs as the basement was a shared space in the building.

Tony sighed as they watched Jackie flounce off. "That woman," he said disparagingly, "has got her head so far up her ass that it's amazing she can even find air enough to vocalize such selfish stupidity."

"I know right?" CJ agreed quietly. "Who cares that some poor kid nearly got killed and might be a perma-veggie? Poor Jackie-wackie is going to miss a weekend or two of income coming in that she's not even working for."

"Mhm," Mercedes grumbled, lighting another Marlboro menthol.

CJ and Tony followed suit, pulling out Newports and Marlboro Reds 100s respectively, and all three were soon smoking as they took turns venting irritation with their boss.

"I understand having a business to run and needing to make a profit," Mercedes said once her cigarette was glowing a bright red on the end, "but it wouldn't kill her to actually act like a decent human being and show concern for the guy who got injured instead of only caring about the profits and who's liable for the damage. She'll be lucky if the kid or his parents don't sue whoever is liable for his injury. And that money she's complaining of having to shell out for damages to the bar is the money we hustle to keep the customers happy and coming back for more drinks. At least Danny came into the bar and would work some hours most nights with us so he knew what was going on. She just swoops in to collect the cash and approve the schedules."

"God forbid the plastic bitch chip a fake nail because she picked up a pen to fill out an order form for supplies," CJ said with a snort of laughter.

"Her idea of inventorying is 'Oh! Looks like most all the bottles on the call shelves are full!" Tony said, mimicking their boss's heavy Jersey accent as he did so.

Mercedes had to hold back a laugh as Tony batted his eyelashes with an exaggerated vacant expression.

"'Storage room?'" CJ joined in, giving an effeminate dismissive wave of his wrist like Jackie always did. "'Do we really need to keep so much stuff in stock in the storage room? How much beer do you really think we need to have? Superbowl Sunday is only once a year anyway, so what happens if people don't drink all this in one weekend?'"

Mercedes was on the brink of a full giggle fit now and had to stop smoking her cigarette until she could compose herself with a few deep breaths.

"Yep. And while the absentee owner is lamenting losing out on a weekend's income and having to pay for damages that insurance will likely cover the majority of," Tony added more seriously in aggravation, "she's got the million dollar house here in Philly, the house in Myrtle Beach, three luxury cars, and all of its paid for thanks to Danny busting his ass when he was alive and leaving her free and clear of any debts. She hasn't had to actually work a day since she married Danny. And we all know she's got more than enough money to spare in the bank, even with her spending habits."

"The damages to the building really aren't as extensive as she's making it sound," CJ continued the thought like he and Tony were an old married couple because Tony had to stop and relight his cigarette. "I heard what the fire fighters were telling her and, compared to what this place usually pulls in, it's relatively not that huge of an expense. Her last Jimmy Chu's probably cost more than the damages will. It's just gonna take a little bit to get it all sorted with the work that needs to get done and dealing with the insurance guys. If the kid or his parents sue, that might be a different matter, but that remains to be seen."

"Meanwhile," Tony finished with another disgusted look in their boss's direction, "while she's bitching just to hear herself talk and throwing herself a pity party, those of us actually working in the bar and breaking our backs to keep the cash flowing…"

"Or shaking their jingly asses," CJ piped in, pointing with his cigarette to their resident Bellydancing Bartender.

"…Right, or shaking their asses," Tony amended, "need that busy weekend's pay in tips to make the bills. I've got two kids and two giant dogs to feed on top of my mortgage and monthly bills. With Teresa still not having an answer if she'll be back this school year with the district's budget cuts and closures, we need my pay coming in steady."

"I hear you," Mercedes said with a nod. "I don't have to worry about pets or mortgage, but I do have rent and Xander eats enough for two teenagers on a high school track team."

CJ and Tony laughed, having heard stories of the skinny bean-pole of a five year old's black hole stomach; such as him sitting down and single-handedly polishing off an entire extra large, extra pepperoni pizza in one sitting and then asking for more.

"I don't have kids, but I've got my bills too," CJ said with a sigh. "Student loans are a bitch and it's not like my work being shown at the gallery is raking in the cash yet."

They all glanced over as one when Jackie's piercing voice got louder, arguing with the harassed, and genuinely aggrieved, looking restaurant owner. The bartenders all shook their heads in unanimous disgust.

"Well, seen as where there's no work tonight," Tony said dryly, "you two want to grab dinner down the street before heading back to the respective homes and bills that are waiting?"

"I could go for a quick bite to eat," Mercedes agreed, "but then I'm going to take the 'silver lining' view of this mess and go back home to crash. I'm beat."

"Yeah, you look pretty worn out, hunny," CJ said as they started walking towards an Italian pizza shop they liked to grab grinders from on occasion. He nodded to Mercedes's left hand. "And what in the world did you do to your hand?"

Mercedes glanced down at the small rectangle of gauze taped to her palm and shrugged. "I was working on a new project and I cut myself. Not a big deal; the cut was small."

"Mercedes, how many times do we have to tell you not to play with sharp objects?" Tony asked, half reprimanding her, half amused as he didn't expect the artist to change.

"Hey! I almost never end up injuring myself," Mercedes said indignantly. "I'm a bit tired, but I wanted to get the project done."

Both guys shook their heads in consternation.

"Ah, and here come the vultures to pick at the recently dead," Tony said nodding towards a local news station van making its way down the street.

"Well, at least we have good timing and we can leave them to Jackie's hysterics," Mercedes said wryly. "That'll give them a good story I'm sure."

"Can't wait to hear what she makes the damage sound like," CJ commented.

"How much you want to bet she makes the injured kid sound like some sort of dearly beloved adopted son she's deeply mourning?" Tony said sardonically.

"I think we'd all be on the same side of that bet," Mercedes replied.

"Fair point," Tony said with a laugh.

CJ perked up all of a sudden and gave Mercedes a mischievous look. "Hey… Any chance you're so tired because of that hottie friend of yours from the other night? Don't see you for over 36hours and you come back to work looking like something out of Clive Barker. Must have been a lot of catching up you did while he's in town."

Mercedes groaned in frustration and hung her head. She had almost forgotten about the stir Alucard had made at her work with the blow up they had the night before, Iscariot worries since, and now this mess with the bar.

"CJ, is there any chance, whatsoever, that you'll believe me if I tell you nothing happened?" Mercedes asked in knowing futility, kicking a discarded soda can unfortunate enough to be in her path into the street.

"Um… Nope," CJ replied with a grin. "That man candy was way too yummy for any straight woman or gay man to want to pass up a chance to take a suck off of."

Mercedes let out another frustrated noise and glared at CJ, causing both men to start chuckling.

"Alright, alright," Tony interjected with a teasing smirk. "Leave the poor under-laid woman alone, CJ. As long as the second best invention came into play, there's no need to hassle her."

"Tony!" Mercedes exclaimed as she slapped him on the shoulder.

CJ started to laugh uproariously as Tony got slapped.

Mercedes slapped the frosted blonde's shoulder as well. She pointed at her now pouting friend, "That's for telling Tony about that! And for thinking you could laugh and not get slapped too!"

"Well, he asked after you and the man candy left what I meant!" CJ explained, still pouting and rubbing his arm.

Tony was chuckling now at CJ's expense.

"Damn woman," CJ grumbled dramatically, "you can hit."

"That was barely a love tap, so take it like a man and stop whining," Mercedes said with a shake of her head. "You both are terrible."

The guys chuckled and then there was a brief silence.

CJ glanced over at Mercedes with a sly grin after less than a minute. The two sets of dark-brown eyes met.

Mercedes raised an eyebrow questioningly as she could sense CJ was suddenly both very curious and very amused about something.

"Mercedes hunny…" CJ said in an unmistakable tone of faux innocence. "Be honest with me. Did you make sure to remember it? Or were you especially, sinfully, indulgent and have your fill of that yummy foreign man candy without a flavor-tainting wrapper to mar the experience?"

Tired as she was, Mercedes still let out a growl of frustration that would have made her hell hounds very proud of her.

CJ perceptively took that as the warning it most definitely was to start running. Fast.

Mercedes chased CJ to the pizza parlor, issuing extremely colorful threats that all ended with the result of CJ losing the ability to function properly and therefore won't ever need said invention again, with Tony laughing at his younger coworkers' antics from behind.

.  
.

.

Mercedes received a call from Liam via CJ's cell while having dinner with her coworkers.

CJ was surprised to see Liam's number pop up, as it hadn't in months. After a few comments to Liam that Mercedes was with him, being a bit flirtatious, and teasingly saying he'd only put Mercedes on the phone if the aristocrat considered using his connections to get his work shown at the upcoming annual art faire (which earned him a swift slap over the head by Tony sitting next to him), CJ finally handed the phone over to Mercedes.

Mercedes went to the other side of the pizza parlor to talk with some small amount of privacy. Liam told her that one of his human servants had seen the live news report of the accident at her work, heard Jackie's dramatic retelling of the story, and had woken Liam to alert him. Liam told Mercedes, with no shortage of concern, that he had tried her cell and then work and, upon receiving no answer with either number, tried CJ, hoping she might still be with coworkers to find out if she was alright as the identity of the injured party wasn't being released and it had been her boss interviewed.

Mercedes let him know she was safe and sound, apologized for not having her cell on her, gave their own less theatrical account of what had happened, and told him about the bar being closed for a short while.

Liam offered again to have her over this weekend, but relented with far less argument when Mercedes said that she was still exhausted and would like to go home to Xander and spend some of the weekend catching up on sleep. Liam understood from how tired she had appeared that morning. They made plans to visit with friends the following weekend as it looked like the bar would be closed at least that long and she wouldn't have to worry about asking for time off.

Given what Alucard had said about Anderson not being one to wait long to act, Mercedes figured it would be safe to make those plans. She was trying to remain hopeful she'd survive the attack and wanted to have something else to look forward to and drive her to live through this ordeal.

After a bit of teasing from Tony and CJ over the call and dinner being finished, Mercedes went home, surprising Geina and Xander with returning early. She explained to Geina what happened at the bar and let the elderly woman know that she wasn't going to be back to work anywhere from a week to two. Geina expressed concern over the young man who was injured and said she was glad that the fire hadn't spread further to cause more injuries. Geina also reassured Mercedes to not worry about the time off, she'd still be there to watch Xander when work recommenced. Mercedes thanked the sitter and, even though Geina protested a bit over it, she insisted on giving the sitter at least part of the money she'd normally be receiving for watching Xander as she knew that Geina's finances were even tighter than her own and she didn't want to leave the elderly woman short because of something like this. Geina eventually accepted the money and then went back up to her apartment for the evening.

Xander was quite happy his mommy was home from work so early. He had just finished having his own dinner before Mercedes got home, so she decided to settle down and watch his bedtime movie with him in his room because she was too tired to suggest something more active. Xander fell asleep before the movie was done, little snores cutting over the sound of the movie.

Mercedes got up from the bed and finally turned her phone back on. She had a couple text messages from Val and sent a long reply back to let Val know what had happened at the bar, along with answers on which soda Val should pick up to mix up some drinks for tomorrow night and that the movie Val wanted to bring sounded like a good idea.

Mercedes set her alarm to wake her an hour and a half before dawn, and then set a secondary alarm for ten minutes later, and the third alarm for ten minutes after that. After making a phone related mistake once today, she wasn't going to take any chances and risk not have an alarm go off for some reason and still be sleeping when dawn broke. She grabbed the phone charger and plugged the phone in, setting it down on the computer desk next to Xander's bed.

That done, Mercedes changed out of her work clothes and into the fight clothes from previous nights and the flak jacket. She sighed as she fastened the jacket up, thinking about Alucard for the first time in a few hours.

'Going out of his way to find this, even if it was stealing from a military base, seemed like a concerned gesture and attempt to actually help the situation,' Mercedes thought in dismayed confusion.

Unable to have feelings of hate with the way being an empath effected herself, and her anger having had time to burn off, she couldn't help the thought from surfacing.

'But then he goes and threatens to eat me between flirtations. And then he blew up over such a small prank and was right back to his imperious and arrogant behavior to try intimidating me. That vampire just doesn't make any sense except that being volatile and egotistical seem to be the only constants with him…'

Mercedes sighed in frustration and pushed the thoughts aside.

'There's no use trying to figure Alucard out anymore. He's gone from the equation of this situation and we're better for it. A hostile ally who can't be trusted or understood is worse than an enemy you know you can't trust. Someone else will have to solve the mystery that is Vlad Draculea, aka Alucard.'

Mercedes finished dressing, ending up leaving the Kevlar pants in the duffle bag. They fit well enough, but were a little too constricting to her movements when her pants were worn above them. She didn't have the time to try to redesign the Kevlar pants to hold weapons as her normal pants did and simply wear them on their own. Seen as where Iscariot was mainly using guns, whose bullets wouldn't be stopped by the Kevlar, nor would Anderson's blades, Mercedes decided she was better off with the pants that allowed her more weapons on hand and better movement.

Mercedes proceeded to arm herself as heavily as she realistically could, went to the bathroom and tied up her hair as before, and then added the slender hair stick daggers as a last resort weapon. Mercedes went back to the bedroom, cast a sound-blocking barrier around the bed to help minimize the chances of her son being woken up, and opened up her closet. She removed small squares of thin supple leather, 3"x3" each and made from the hides of wolves, from their hiding spot within her chest of magic-related supplies. She also grabbed iron nails and then went into the kitchen to grab a hammer.

Before she began her work, Mercedes took down the calligraphy painting made by Fumiko, rolled it up with a great deal of reverence, and went back to her room briefly to place it in the chest of magical supplies for safe keeping. Should things go wrong, she didn't want it riddled with bullet holes or torn to pieces by stray bayonets.

Mercedes had to stand on a tall step stool (usually used for gaining access to the top shelves of her kitchen) to reach, but she was able to nail a square of leather above the apartment door and each window, or at regular intervals along those walls without windows, starting with the door and working her way counter-clockwise around the apartment.

Each square of leather bore a spiraling enchantment burned into the material, runes interlacing and repeating a pattern to make the spiral. Following the path of the runic spiral inwards were the English words of the incantation she would be using. In the center of each spiral, a single metal setting had been fixed and held in its prongs a small round piece of jet. Each square of leather smelled of burned herbs, which had been ground up and mixed and then imprinted into the leather as the design was burnt.

After each ward was nailed in place, Mercedes murmured an incantation as she held her hand over it and activated the enchantment with her own energy. Her eyes flared golden each time and her energy flowed unfiltered or altered by her necklace. The enchanted designs glowed a deep red-violet that was nearly black, then subsided when she cut off the flow of energy.

When the perimeter walls were covered, Mercedes was once more in front of the door. She held her arms straight out from her body to either side, palms up. She closed her eyes, cleared her mind, and sent her own energy out in the directions of all the wards, connecting to each.

The priestess murmured another incantation, the one burned into the wards, and all the wards began to glow with the dark carmine light.

The light from the door shot out to the ward on the window counter-clockwise from it. The light went from ward to ward to ward, following the path they had been hung in, until it encompassed the perimeter of the entire apartment. Mercedes continued chanting the incantation and the light began to spread up from both the top and bottom of the asymmetrical line created, forming a fully enveloping barrier around the apartment.

Once the barrier was fully in place and the wards were properly tied to one another, Mercedes finally lowered her arms and released her own energy from the wards. As her chanting stopped and her eyes opened, the lights issued from the enchantments faded and the wards were set to a dormancy that would last until triggered or deactivated. One good thing that could be said about the bar having been temporarily shut down- Mercedes wouldn't have to remove the wards every day and then repeat this process every night until Iscariot showed so Geina wouldn't see them and start asking questions.

Mercedes once more sent Shadowsnake up to hide in the rafters of the roof with the same request as before. She summoned up all four of her hell hounds and she gave them a fond smile as she looked at them with golden eyes.

"Alright you four, listen up," Mercedes said seriously.

Hades gave a snuff of his nose in amusement to her tone and then let his tongue loll to one side with a big fanged grin.

"Yes, even you too, Hades. Artemis," the priestess' golden gaze went to the smallest of her hounds, "I want you to go lay down with Xander, between him and the bedroom door. If we are attacked tonight, you are not to leave his side for any reason. You are to protect Xander exclusively to anything else. Even if I am dying at the hands of our enemies, you protect Xander. Is that clear, Artemis?"

The hound gave a distressed whimper at the strictness of that command, even with as fiercely protective as she was with the little boy.

Mercedes fixed the demonic familiar with a stern gaze, knowing that Artemis was the one hound who had the strong enough attachment to her son to obey the command at the expense of her mistress if pressed to agree. Mercedes repeated the order, no amount of humor in expression or tone.

"Artemis, you are to protect Xander above all else. You are his last line of defense and you do not leave his side except to devour those who mean to directly harm him. Even if I am injured or dying, you protect Xander and Xander alone. Even if I die, you will extend every effort to remain in this plane of existence to protect my son as long as you are able, bringing him to Liam if you can. Is my command clear?"

Artemis shifted on all four feet as her mistress pinned her with an unrelenting stare that was not often utilized against her. Finally the hell hound bent forward and lowered her head in submission with a small bark.

"Good girl, Artemis," Mercedes said a bit more gently. "Make me proud of you."

The lean hell hound raised herself back up and nodded her head once. Mercedes held out her hand and the familiar walked over.

She pet the demonic dog's head a moment. "Go lay down with Xander now, Artemis. Keep my son safe for me."

Artemis looked up at her mistress for a few seconds with glowing eyes, the irises of which were now golden rather than crimson.

Mercedes gave the demonic familiar a small encouraging smile and Artemis went into the bedroom and curled up next to the sleeping child. The enchantress turned her gaze back to her other three ebony hell hounds, who were all likewise looking at her with eyes that had been changed from crimson to golden.

The pagan priestess gave a small sigh, once more saying a small prayer her plan would work and they'd survive this.

"Cerberus, Hades, Athene." Mercedes met their gazes in turn.

Each demonic familiar gave a snuff and nod as their name was called forth.

The pagan priestess gave a slight smile and then issued their orders as well for protecting the apartment while she attempted to recover some of the much needed sleep she was deprived of and what to do should the attack come tonight. When the hounds had been given their orders, which were far easier for them to accept than Artemis's had been, Mercedes left them relaxing on the living room floor and she went into the bedroom.

Mercedes double checked the alarms on her cell phone, and that it was in fact charging, before allowing herself to stop worry over technical difficulties with the device.

Shifting the katana at her hip and some of her daggers and knives, Mercedes laid down on what space remained of the bed next to her demonic dog and young son, giving the former another fond pat on the head and the latter a kiss on his. Mercedes did her best to clear her mind and, finally, she was exhausted enough to fall asleep, despite the memory of the vision that wished to plague her once more and her fears of what was to come.

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A/N: Early update as I'll be busy tomorrow. Thank you ChibiDiceBotch for the review! I'm glad to hear that you feel I'm keeping a happy balance there. And haha, just wait until the real weaving of the two canons plus history get going... It's going to get mind-imploding, if I've done my job right. Right now, we've been setting the stage, getting characters together, and establishing sides and motivations.

Where's Rosetta, River Styx and GirlWhoLovesFanfiction, I am wondering? Hopefully you're not rallying together in protest of a few Alucard-free chapters. .

As for all the lurkers from across the globe, I feel obligated to tell you that as you're so silent, my sisters and I have begun to form theories about who you might be and why you're still reading, based on your locations. Romania, Hungary and the UK have been getting the most outrageous in suggestions, for obvious reasons, but we're having fun with them all.

I was also amused to notice that my predictions for how many people would follow this story past the first chapter or so was about accurate. I guessed 26.25% or so people would make it past the first chapter, and we're batting around 35% reading into these later chapters. I'm calling that a win, seen as where last month alone that meant a minimum of 60 people were logged reading each chapter. Overall, we surpassed 1,300 views.

Also, good news: I was wrestling with some upcoming scenes that were leaving me less than satisfied with the results. I finally had a flash of inspiration and spent a few days glued to my computer when I had free time. Some massive rewrites later, I have some chapters coming up that I think you'll all go nuts for. After those, we'll be wrapping up the first arc of this story, with the characters heading out the USA. As I still have a buffer of about ten chapters between what's been published and what is sitting in my computer, I can honestly look at the upcoming chapters and say that shenanigans of all sorts will ensue.

As we're closing the gap between what is written in advance and what is up on the site, though, I'd like to hear from the dozens of lurkers. Tell me what you hate, what you love, what you're hoping for. I'll take it all into consideration and if things can be worked into what I have in mind, I'll do so and give a shout out to you for the idea.

Have a great weekend folks!


	21. Chapter 21 The American Elders

A/N: Thanks go to River Styx and GirlWhoLovesFanfiction for their reviews. Also, a very BIG thanks to GirlWhoLovesFanfiction because she so very kindly took a few nights out of her time to check over the upcoming scenes for me, to give me critical feedback from the point of view of someone who has no idea where this story is going. As a result, certain things were fixed, much was hailed as great, and I have a surprise for you folks.

Today, the 4th, is my birthday. And instead of begging for reviews as your presents to me when I posted the last chapter, I am giving all of you the present of three new chapters. I hope you'll enjoy!

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Chapter Twenty-One

The American Elders

It was just after eleven Friday evening. In a tinted-window penthouse suite, on the other side of Center City from where the Archdiocese resided, just over a dozen vampires were gathered in a large board room. The walls were reinforced with over a foot of solid steel, the windows were 2 inch thick bullet-proof glass, and the building was secured with protective enchantments that kept their collective energy from being possibly sensed by those strong enough to pick up on the multiple presences gathered.

Liam was sitting at the head of the long table. Gone were his usual business suits and in their place was a close-fitting, jet black tactical suit, similar to those military personnel wore, that had been his own design and creation. Unlike the military's or Iscariot's, this suit was reinforced beyond what either faction had, made of material and plating Liam had spent decades constantly improving in design and taking ideas from any source he could procure, and was designed specifically for protecting vampires from both injury and exposure to the sun. The latter of which was lethal for weaker vampires and draining for those like the Elders, even to an extent for one as powerful as himself.

Rather than designer accessories adorning his person, a matching sleek black helmet rest on the table next to Liam, which would likewise help protect from injury or sun and keep his identity secret in the more conspicuous outfit he was now donning. He had two large handguns strapped to either side of his lean hips and two more in shoulder holsters. His belt contained clips for reloading those guns at his waist with traditional bullets and those attached to the harness on his chest contained blessed silver bullets for the guns held there.

The Elder vampire also had a silver-overlaid long sword resting diagonally across his back for easy access, the same custom fitted harness that held his guns likewise held the sword. And while Liam's country of origin was Ireland, a set of matching sgian-dubhs were tucked into his boots. The traditional Scottish blades were made of pure silver that held a wickedly sharp edge despite being made of a softer metal. The blades Liam carried were older than even his three hundred and thirty-two years, some of the few surviving remnants of his mortal life before being turned into a vampire, and had served him well throughout the centuries.

The only thing that remained the same in the aristocrat's appearance was that his light brown hair was tied back from his hawk-like features, but even that was missing its usual flashy streaks of color created by his will.

Those present around the table, male and female Elder vampires alike, were similarly dressed and armed, though their secondary bladed weapons were those of their preference.

The American Elders had been spending countless hours since Alucard had been reported to have entered the city in this room, on high alert for the trouble that often followed in his wake, especially with the increased activity at the Archdiocese. They weren't sure if Iscariot was swelling its ranks because they had been tipped off Alucard would be traveling to the city, or if Alucard had flown in because of Iscariot, but blood flowed like a river whenever those two were involved and the Elders weren't going to ignore the warning signs.

Liam and the other Elders were currently watching, with a great deal of expectancy, a series of TV screens on one wall that were being fed images from multiple locations around the city. Some were their own cameras placed in strategic positions over the years. Others were being tapped into from the local government or private establishments' security feeds. The largest screen in the center was currently split between two feeds.

On the right was a camera trained on the Archdiocese itself, which was one of their own cameras, keeping an almost constant surveillance on Iscariot's movements and attempting to discover what the Catholics might be up to in there. Even with all the skills in enchantments some of the Elders possessed, they hadn't been able to breech Iscariot's wards. The wards were meant for keeping out vampiric senses and supernatural powers, so they couldn't even try sensing out the magic being used to know how to get past it. Trying to use counter-wards to bypass Iscariot's enchantments, without know how those specific enchantments were created, could alert Iscariot to attempts at tampering or trigger further defensive enchantments also placed, and so the American Elders had decided not to make blind attempts to do so.

They had a wide range of dossiers forming on all operatives who had been spotted entering the Archdiocese, which included the priest Alexander Anderson when he arrived on Tuesday, and his protégés Heinkel Wolfe and Yumiko Takagi just yesterday. Anderson's unmistakable presence being seen walking into the Archdiocese, and the later arrivals of the two women, reaffirmed that Iscariot was concocting something major. Most were of the thought that it had something to do with Alucard's presence, and some theorizing Anderson was being brought in to head a large scale sweep-and-clean of proportions they hadn't before seen.

The Elders had also been able to spot on a few occasions when personnel from within the Archdiocese were leaving. They would sweep in to intercept the individuals, hypnotized them into talking, and had unfortunately not found out any helpful information. Any who were being allowed to leave were those not directly involved with Iscariot itself, such as the normal clergy and office staff, and were not being given information on what was going on within the section of the building Iscariot was gathering in. Iscariot was getting better at covering their tracks and hiding their plots- much to the Elders' irritation, though they had likewise gotten more efficient at doing the same- which had also added to the Elders' suspicions of what Iscariot might be up to in the Archdiocese. They wiped the memories of the encounter from those they had caught, left them to go about their business, and continued their watch of the building, hoping for a chance to find more useful information.

They also hadn't been able to track all of Alucard's movements in recent nights. His energy was so great that, in such a small radius as the tightly packed city, it felt more like a constant overshadowing presence than a clear homing signal to his vampiric offspring. And they mostly had to rely on cameras to follow him or they'd otherwise risk exposing themselves if they followed in person.

On the left of the large screen was a feed from a security camera for a private law firm across the street from the hotel Alucard was staying in and was currently being used to watch for Alucard leaving the hotel. The security guards of the building the law firm resided in were now receiving a pre-recorded false feed so they would not be alerted to the fact their own cameras were being put to use by outside sources. Given that it was after hours and no one came or went so late at night, the guards had yet to notice. The Elders had been using the hotel's lobby camera to try keeping track of Alucard's movements, but he could phase through walls at his own will and therefore they couldn't reliably track him through that camera. They had discovered on a few occasions that he would be presumed out of his hotel room already, only to be seen coming off the elevator and leaving the hotel. Or they'd think that he was in his hotel room, only to see him walking through the front entrance of the lobby.

They ended up having to scout out an additional camera with a wider-range view whose feed they could hack into so they could keep better tabs on the elusive vampire. Which had taken a few days to accomplish, but now they could see when he came or left, as long as someone was watching the feed to spot when his shadow form went darting out of his room and past the lights outside before disappearing into the shadows of the night. Their surveillance programs were calibrated to scan the thousands of feeds they had access to and find Alucard should it detect his face or shadow form, track the direction he seemed to be going in, and try to follow him with those cameras in that area. It was easier done when Alucard was posing as a human, his shadow form was near impossible pick up and follow.

Liam had initiated the meeting at Alucard's hotel they were currently keeping under watch to indeed greet Alucard and make him aware of a severe breech in boundaries, but it hadn't been his sole reason. Liam had gone in to try gaining information on Alucard's plans; and to gain information on Alucard himself, his powers and what they could be capable of. He had gathered all to varying degrees, though what he discovered of Alucard's plans had been incomplete.

His powers were another matter. Without a doubt, Liam could sense Alucard's power was formidable. Greater than any other individual vampire's, or even a few Elders combined. But it wasn't without its weak spots and Alucard was still only one vampire, even if he was the father of all vampires.

As a collective, Liam was more certain than before that they could neutralize or kill Alucard once and for all if the need arose. A few individuals caught away from the group, however, could be killed by the progenitor of their kind, their blood drained and their plans exposed in the process. Liam wasn't going to take that risk of Alucard getting a heads up on their plans of retaliation should he cross any lines. Having some blind spots in their surveillance was a lesser threat, though frustrating to no end when Alucard moved too quickly for them to follow or disappeared from areas they had within their vast network of surveillance.

Liam's contacts had alerted him to Alucard's private jet being sent out of country, though Alucard himself hadn't been reported to be on it. Liam and the other Elders hadn't been sure exactly what that move meant. Their best guesses were either Alucard was hoping that if enemies were trying to keep watch on his movements, they'd not have enough resources to know he wasn't on the plane and was hoping to give a false impression of leaving; or he was sending the plane back to England to retrieve something or someone that couldn't be brought through on commercial flights.

Either way, the American Elders knew their vampiric forefather was not on the flight and he was up to something within their country. After securing the more vulnerable vampires and those humans under their protection away at Liam's mansion with some Elders, vampiric guards, and their human hired guards to protect them; the remaining American Elders convened to this location to once again wait for the progenitor of their kind or Iscariot to make some move to reveal their intentions and then act on their own part in accordance.

When Alucard's private jet had been reported to be returning, with servants in tow, the Elders made their final preparations for a fight and continued their patient watch.

Things were quiet over at the Archdiocese right now. Iscariot was remaining hidden in their building as usual and there wasn't much to view on the right screen. And as best as the Elders could tell, Alucard was in his room still, likely waiting for his servants to arrive at Philadelphia International. What he was planning on doing once those servants arrived was still up for debate, but the Elders were making sure to be ready for as many probabilities as possible, hence their current range in weaponry.

Some of the smaller screens were showing various feeds from the airport, waiting for Alucard's servants to arrive. The Elders had general dossiers on Alucard's servants, including known means of fighting and powers, but they wanted to get a look at those vampires themselves and anything they may be bringing in with them from England.

"For the love of all that is unholy," Davin's bride, Sasha, broke the silence that had been looming in the room for twenty minutes since their last round of discussions regarding the issues with Iscariot and Alucard. Barely contained anticipation could be heard in her voice from where she sat a couple seats down from Liam's right side. "I am getting bored to true death from looking at nothing happening."

Just barely a hundred years into her undead existence, Sasha was the youngest of the Elders in the room. Despite that fact, the petite blonde-haired vampire with eyes that blazed blue like a blowtorch had proven her worth in fights against Iscariot, and other vampires, and had earned her right to join them here tonight. She just needed to work on her enthusiasm as she could sometimes be a little too eager to jump into a fight to try proving herself. Davin had had some business to finish in New York and had let Sasha come to Philadelphia ahead of him to try appeasing her restlessness, but Sasha had found only more waiting in store for her when she arrived.

The others in the room turned gazes to Sasha. Some in silent rebuke for the outburst, others more amused. Laughs came from Marrick, Aaron, Henrick, and Janna.

"What's wrong Sasha?" Aaron asked from the other side the table, hellfire gaze flaring with amusement as his wide shoulders shook with laughter. "Anxious to break in that new toy Davin commissioned for you?"

Sasha gave a grin that was more than a little blood-thirsty, intentionally exposing elongated teeth for emphasis, as she glanced down at the high-powered sniper rifle Davin had had custom made for her only a month ago.

"I haven't had a chance to give it a proper baptism yet!" Sasha said mischievously. "I won't be able to name it until I have. And who better to offer up that blood for such a magnificent weapon than one of those pious bastards of Iscariot, or even one of our dark forefather's own servants?"

"What? Not thinking you'll try enlisting Alucard himself for that honor?" Aaron asked with a teasing smirk, his own pearly teeth standing out all the more accentuated, framed as they were by his midnight black skin.

Sasha's grin remained as she shook her head once. "I'll gladly take as many shots at him as I can," the youngest Elder said proudly, "but I also have heard enough from Davin to know that even this weapon may not be able to permanently shed that old demon's blood. I'm trying to keep my sights set on what will be realistic for my new baby right now and then I can later make some modifications that might make her more useful."

"Well at least Davin's been able to get you to size up the opposition with a little more realism and long-term views," Janna replied teasingly from where she sat next to Henrick and across from Sasha.

Sasha stuck her tongue out at Janna at that comment.

The short-haired brunette to give a snap of her teeth playfully and a wink. "Sasha, what have I told you about that tongue of yours?"

"Only stick it out if I plan to use it," Sasha replied blithely. "Maybe this time I do."

The comment elicited more laughter from those present, though Liam and Denissa, who was sitting to his immediate right, both had to resist the urge to roll their eyes at the antics. Liam said nothing about the exchange as it was their usual behavior with one another and he knew they were just trying to release some of the stress they were all feeling from the tension that had been building for over a week.

"If you young ladies are going to use tongues or anything else on the other," Henrick said from his seat next to Janna, who was one of his brides, "I already said I'm game if Davin is and that I want footage."

As he issued that comment in a rather blasé tone, Henrick didn't bothering to look up from state-of-the-art laptop he was using to keep tabs on Alucard's servants' flight and monitor the various cameras they were using. His fiery red eyes were half obscured by sandy blonde bangs that hadn't been quite long enough to pull back into his ponytail. With his later-teenage features veering towards stereotypical California surfer, and his manner of dress and speech often matching when not in potential combat situations, most wouldn't think that Henrick was near as old as Liam or Denissa. Nor would they likely guess Henrick was a rather brilliant computer hacker. But he was on both accounts and he was responsible for the ever growing network of surveillance they had established in Philadelphia and every other major city any of the Elders resided in or had interests to protect.

Henrick's other bride, Natasia, rolled her eyes at the comments and let out a feigned aggrieved sigh. "You have Janna and myself to keep you occupied full time and nearly a dozen consorts at your bidding. Do you really need to make attempts to steal away Davin's bride to further your little harem fetish? There are more appropriate places to go hunting for new additions."

"Janna made the first pass this time," Henrick replied with a shrug, still typing away at his computer. "I also said if Davin's game, which makes it play, not stealing. But when we're finished with business here, you're more than welcome to go luring in a few more ladies if you'd like. I'm certainly not going to turn down a new face to the mix."

"Hm…" The ebony haired bride said, glancing at her brunette counterpart. "How delightful for you to say so. Janna, you seem to be favoring blondes recently. What about those triplets we met at that club in Hampton the other weekend, who were in fact natural blondes?"

Henrick finally glanced up from his laptop to look at the elder of his two brides, eyebrow raised in interest.

"Dearest love of mine, did you say triplets? All virgins?"

"Mhm…" Janna replied with a grin, mocha skinned beauty to Natasia's ivory, drawing Henrick's attention to her as both women giggled. "We verified their purity while dancing with them. They were most accommodating with a little influence. We let them live for the time being because we knew you might wish to have such a find added, as it is so rare these days and spilling their blood for a meal would be such a waste. It would be deliciously fitting to have one for each of us and we know exactly where to find them if you are interested."

"You sinful ladies know me far too well and I love you for it. I'll stop making passes at Sasha," Henrick said in good humor, attention once more back on his laptop. "But I'm expecting bodacious blonde triplets in my bed next weekend so I can make a few new consorts for us to play with. Otherwise, game is back on with a renewed lineup and Davin will have to step up his own plays."

"I'll be sure to let him know," Sasha said noncommittally with a smirk, used to Henrick's flirtations and parrying them.

Henrick glanced up from his laptop again and his more serious gaze went to Liam as he announced, "Speak of the devil, Davin's car just pulled into the garage."

Liam nodded and looked to Marrick sitting on his left as he stood from where he sat at the head of the table. "Come downstairs with me. I have a task for you and Davin."

The taller vampire raised a dark eyebrow in askance, but stood without voicing the question on the tip of his tongue. Marrick bore guns identical to Liam's, his bastard sword an enlarged replica to his grand-sire's, and Marrick wore his long jet-black hair in a style similar to Liam's. Though Marrick's daggers were poignards with elongated engraved hilts, even those were tucked into the sides of his boots like his grand-sire's.

Denissa, however, had no compunction about questioning that statement in front of the other Elders.

"You're not keeping Marrick and Davin here when it looks like things may finally be coming to a head?" Denissa asked from where she sat at Liam's right side. Denissa was a willowy Elder near as tall as Liam's almost six feet. She had her black hair tied up in a twist behind her head, the severe style accentuating the austere beauty of the Elder's face and keeping her hair from being a potential handhold for an enemy to grab hold of. Fiery-red eyes that had seen much in her existence were pinning Liam for an answer. A rapier was the favored melee weapon strapped to her hip, her guns held in a chest harness, and a parrying long dagger with a wide protective hilt was on the opposite hip.

Denissa had left Francesco and another of her strongest vampire children behind to help keep watch over her younger fledglings; her companion Jacob and his little girl, Felicia; and all others who had been gathered at the mansion. As one of the oldest and strongest Elders in the room besides Liam, head of her own vampiric line moved to the US, Denissa had taken it on herself to be on the forefront of a possible battle and expected others like herself to be present.

"There are more than enough of us here for an immediate response strike should something indeed begin," Liam replied with an edge to his voice, reminding Denissa who was the Elder ultimately making the decisions in the group gathered. "I need Marrick and Davin to see to an assignment just as important as the surveillance we are currently overseeing. They will not be going far if combat ensues and they are needed. As Davin will not be joining us for the time being, I was going to ask you to continue serving as my primary advisor. But if you would prefer to question my decisions so quickly, I can always appoint another for the duration of this situation."

"As you say," Denissa conceded with a nod. Denissa and Liam had known each other for most of their undead existences, they were close friends after spending so much time with one another, so they did have a great deal of trust in one another. Even if her pride was appeased and her concern for a unified strike force was allayed, however, she was clearly wondering why Liam had failed to tell her about this choice in advance.

"I will be back shortly," Liam said with a nod to those gathered. "Henrick, alert me over the intercom if anything of importance happens."

"Sure thing, boss man," Henrick said with the Californian accent returning as he gave a salute.

Liam shook his head with a smirk and left with Marrick silently following him. Davin entered the building from the stairs that led to the lobby from the underground parking garage. Once Davin was past the wards that protected the building, Liam could sense the other Elder's presence. Unfortunately, though the wards effectively served to keep Alucard and any psychic operatives Iscariot had from sensing the Elders, they also kept the Elders from extending their own vampiric senses past them. Fortunately, this was the modern era of technology, so they were far from blind to potential enemies approaching, nor without means of communication to make up for the hindrance.

"Davin," Liam sent the telepathic greeting.

"Liam. Good evening. I am on my way up right now…"

"Marrick and I are meeting you downstairs," Liam replied, cutting off the explanation. "I will explain momentarily."

"Of course."

Once Liam and Marrick reached the elevators and boarded, Marrick glanced down at his grand-sire.

"So… Grand-sire. Am I allowed to know what my assignment is?" Marrick asked with a teasing smirk.

Liam chuckled and nodded once. "I will detail that when we meet Davin downstairs. I trust you can wait a minute so I do not need stop mid-explanation to repeat myself?"

"I suppose I am inclined to acquiesce to that request," Marrick agreed, referencing one of his favorite movies.

Liam held back his laugh this time and said wryly, "You are becoming more and more like the flippant modern twenty year olds with every decade that passes, Marrick. One would hardly think you have seen nearly a hundred and fifty years."

"This coming from the vampire who uses his powers to change his eye color to green, wears Armani custom made for only himself, uses a state of the art iPhone, drives an exclusive release Ferrari, and allows himself to be photographed and interviewed in magazines as a multi-billion dollar businessman and most eligible bachelor." Marrick gave a chuckle. "A bit hypocritical, Grand-sire, don't you think?"

"I adopt guises according to the times to aid in blending in with those humans of significant social stature to further the security of our hold here as my responsibilities demand I do," Liam said neutrally, giving a shrug. "Outward appearances aside, I still remain the same at my core."

"Yes, well, some of us prefer to change with the times a bit more deeply than others, Grand-sire," Marrick replied, rolling his eyes over this old difference in views.

Liam gave him a look that was hardly amused, but the elevator was already opening to the bottom floor and Davin was waiting for them in the deserted lobby.

Davin appeared in his early thirties, with close-cropped dark brown hair, an athletic build similar to a linebacker's, wearing dark Ray-bans that hid his fiery red gaze and a tailored black suit that accentuated his build.

He looked more like a high-end private body guard than a lawyer, but he was one of the best lawyers in the country. A fact attributed to Davin having more than two hundred and fifty years of experience in the field, having been a judge when he was turned and taking on identities ever since to stay in the business of law as it evolved. Liam's former bride, Fiona, had turned Davin shortly after they arrived to the Americas as fairly young vampires themselves so they'd have a local official to aid in their transition to the new country.

Law history aside, Davin was also one of the most experienced fighters of the Elders and one of the strongest in vampiric powers. He had two massively-oversized duffle bags crossed over his shoulders, which contained his own protective suit and weapons.

"Good evening, gentlemen," Davin said with a noticeable New York accent. He nodded to Liam as he removed his glasses. "I do apologize for taking so long in arriving, Liam, but I had to delay so I could finish overseeing that ongoing matter you requested results for before I could leave and it took a bit longer for those results to come in than I had expected."

"Are there any new results to report?" Liam asked stoically, not wanting to get his hopes up.

Marrick was also looking at Davin with interest in the answer.

Liam was glad he had kept his expectations in check as Davin shook his head once apologetically.

"Still stalemated."

Liam let out a small sigh of frustration and then nodded. Marrick took the recurring answer more stoically.

"I know you are doing your best," Liam said with an attempt to keep the depths of his disappointment from showing. "I would appreciate it if you inform me if the situation changes."

Davin nodded his agreement.

"Well, now that Davin's given us that delightful news," Marrick said with a return of the sarcastic smirk, causing both of the older Elders to look at him reprovingly. "Grand-sire, will you please enlighten us as to what this top-secret assignment you have for us is? Perhaps that will have more satisfying results."

Liam pinched the bridge of his nose, attempting not to snap at Marrick as he once more reminded himself they were all under a great deal of mounting tension. He gestured with one hand to an empty conference room and then led the way in.

"Davin, you can suit up inside here without being on display for every pedestrian passing the building," Liam said. "As soon as you both have been briefed, I expect you to be leaving, so let us not waste time."

Davin followed Liam into the office and Marrick brought up the rear of the line, closing the office doors behind them. As soon as the office doors were closed, Liam made a graceful gesture and a violet light filled with eldritch sigils surrounded the stylishly decorated room in a brief flare.

"Apparently Grand-sire means for what is said within these four walls to stay within these four walls," Marrick noted with amusement, sensing the nature and strength of the ward.

Davin concentrated on changing out of his civilian work clothes and into his combat suit, but he gave a short laugh nonetheless at his younger vampiric brother's remark.

"Precisely," Liam said with a pointed look.

Marrick held up his hands in a peace gesture. "I may have a sarcastic tongue, but I don't have a loose one," he said to be placating, as it wasn't often Liam leveled such looks at him.

"I realize that, Marrick. Which is one of the qualifications that made me decide to entrust you with this assignment," Liam replied seriously, but his expression became less sharp.

"So what is the assignment?" Marrick asked expectantly.

"As you noticed when we left the mansion this afternoon," Liam said stoically, "Mercedes and Xander were not among those who are being kept under protection."

"It was difficult for me not to notice, seen as where you flew in in quite the displeased huff and lacking said individuals."

Davin paused in unbuttoning his crisp white dress shirt. "Sunshine and the little one are not at the mansion?" he asked loudly in consternation.

Liam shook his head once to the negative.

"Why the hell not?! Pardon the language, Liam, but they were supposed to be kept under guard with the others!"

"I realize that," Liam replied, "but I could not coax her into willingly going and I was not going to drag her and Xander back home by force."

"Does she understand how serious the situation is?" Davin asked bluntly. Though he was a dark grandchild of Liam's like Marrick, they had spent many more years together and had a more equal level of position in speaking with one another.

"Grand-sire didn't tell Sunshine the situation," Marrick piped in.

Davin gave Liam an incredulous look.

Marrick continued in his usual straightforward manner, "And seen as where they've been having their troubles, and Grand-sire had to fib Monday night and tell Sunshine he was out with another woman, on a night when there wasn't some event needing to keep pretenses up for, to cover for our meetings so they remained all hushity-hush, I would hazard a guess that also played a part of her reasoning for not wanting to be 'coaxed' into going."

Liam gave Marrick a rather exasperated look. "Thank you, Marrick, for that succinct summary."

"You said you wanted to keep from wasting time," Marrick stated, unabashed. "You and Davin could have beaten around the bush for hours if left to your own devices."

Now both Davin and Liam were glaring at Marrick.

"The troubles you two have had aside, why didn't you tell Sunshine about what is happening if a gentler means of persuasion did not accomplish getting her to safety?" Davin asked, returning his attention to Liam. "She's an intelligent woman who understands matters such as these and we agreed those entering protection were permitted to know the basics of the situation so they knew why it was necessary to be placed under guard…"  
"If Mercedes knew what was happening," Liam interrupted the reprimand, "she would insist vehemently and without relent that we stand down from this confrontation and run. My Sunshine knows about the destruction that followed in the wake of Iscariot's last sweep-and-clean because they caught us so thoroughly off guard. As those outside the Elders and their acknowledged spouses are not permitted to know of any advances we have made in our own protection, even if we did agree as of last night to give the general synopsis of the looming conflict to those being brought to the mansion under guard, I have not been able to tell Sunshine about such. She would not be inclined to believe the outcome in current circumstances would be any different. It would cause her undue amounts of stress to only know part of what is taking place. As Marrick is already aware," Liam's gaze turned to his younger vampiric grandson, "my Sunshine already had enough troubles earlier in this week. Adding another source of stress is not what she needs right now."

"What took place earlier this week?" Davin asked, now even more concerned.

"Sunday evening some drunken humans followed her from the bar and attempted to jump her on her way back to her apartment with the intent to rape her," Liam said flatly.

Davin's hellfire eyes immediately flared brighter, his broad and usually genial face darkened with rage. The Elder's expression clearly told he was contemplating storming out of the building to hunt said humans down then and there if they had not already been killed.

Liam continued with barely a pause to alleviate some of Davin's concern and explain the rest. "There were only four of them and Sunshine was successfully fighting them off. However, an even more serious threat in the form of Alucard came along. He had one of his hounds devour the attackers and then threatened to do the same to Mercedes herself. The hound wouldn't attack Sunshine and she was able to use her enchantments to get away, but he tracked her down at work the following evening and insisted, under threats of possible further violence, that she allow him to walk her home and answer questions he had for her. Sunshine was unable to reach me, as Marrick and I were here in the meeting Monday evening and I mistakenly left my cell phone at my penthouse, so she agreed to Alucard's request in hopes he'd keep his word and leave her be after she answered his questions."

"I assume, as we've not already been sent out hunting the bastard down, that he kept his word," Davin said flintily, attempting to control his anger. "Unless that is what this is about?"

"He kept his word," Liam replied. "But for how long remains to be seen. As I told the other Elders after my little meeting with Alucard, he had similar dossiers on Iscariot to what we have. Though what he planned to do with that information on Iscariot was unclear as he had nothing but the intelligence reports stored in his coffin. Nothing to indicate his actual motivations for collecting the information."

"I received the briefing on your findings after your meeting with those Elders already here," Davin replied with confusion. "And your assessment of his power and what forms of energy he appeared to be able to tap into while you were speaking with him. What does any of that have to do with why you imply Alucard will not continue to leave Sunshine alone if he has thus far?"

To answer that, Liam gave a deft flick of his wrist and a manila folder appeared in hand from thin air. Liam held it out for Davin to take.

Though he was only half suited at the moment, Davin paused what he was doing to take the folder. When he opened it up, his wide brows automatically knitted together and he quickly flipped through the pages.


	22. Chapter 22 Protecting One's Own

Chapter Twenty-Two

Protecting One's Own

"Where did this dossier come from?" Davin questioned, consternation back full force as he already had a reasonable guess to the answer.

"It, like the Iscariot files, were in Alucard's coffin," Liam confirmed stonily. "I made a copy so I knew what he knew about my Sunshine. I was just finishing when I sensed his presence growing slightly stronger and knew he was heading back towards the hotel. I made it back down to the lobby just in time to make it appear as though I was waiting for him."

"And the answer to how much he knows is: 'Quite a damned bit'," Marrick said with a frown, crossing his thickly-muscled arms across his chest. "Seems Alucard wasn't satisfied by whatever answers he got out of Mercedes and had his people delve into as many aspects of Sunshine's life as possible."

"That is putting it lightly," Davin replied with the expertise of a lawyer, flicking through the pages again for a second scan. "Not only her current life, but education, her family and its connections, her connection to ourselves, her financial, criminal and legal histories…You don't see this sort of investigating unless a person is a stalker or the person suspects someone of hiding something."

"Henrick has also been made aware the networking site's security has been breached," Liam said, forestalling that inevitable question. "I have made it clear to him that he will be shutting this foolish experiment of his and Deirdre's down after this conflict is over to avoid future leaks of information. Unfortunately, that does not change the fact that the information was accessed and is being used by Alucard, alongside everything else he managed to dig up on her."

"And apparently he liked what he found out one way or other," Marrick said. "During his meeting with Grand-sire, he made it pretty damned clear her physical and magical traits caught his attention and he didn't care if Mercedes and Xander were under Grand-sire's protection."

"Precisely. Given this is Alucard, which way do you think the interest lays?" Liam asked Davin rhetorically.

"The former- stalking," Davin said without hesitation, glancing over at Liam with deep concern. "The print outs are post-arrival to Philadelphia, so I would theorize that his run-in with Mercedes was just an accident while he was here for whatever other reasons that we concluded are to do with Iscariot. However, Alucard has been reportedly without a companion, consort or bride for over a hundred years thanks to Hellsing's long term imprisonment that he has been free of only in the last few decades. The one female servant we have intel on suggests she is simply a servant and is in a relationship with the human who leads the mercenary force Hellsing now employs. Alucard had quite the well-known appetite for collecting unique and beautiful females before his bondage and now he is free to pursue such again. Our little ray of Sunshine would certainly fall into those categories and this is strong evidence to indicate he has his sights on her. Regardless of whether or not of whether he could turn her, if she is another's, or would even be willing to have one such as him."

"Well now that we have the lawyer's assessment that coincides with our guesses," Marrick said candidly, "can we move for a restraining order of the permanent sort, Grand-sire? Or do you have something else in mind to keep him from Mercedes?"

"Something else," Liam replied, voice once more impassive. "If need be, we can proceed with our plans for neutralizing Alucard. But while carrying out such actions, even with all our planning, some of us may end up injured or dead and that would leave an opening for Iscariot to sweep in and catch us while vulnerable. Instead of us fighting two enemies consecutively and weakening our numbers, we will continue to keep watch on both and, with the way signs are pointing, they will end up fighting each other. No matter who loses that battle, it leaves one less enemy for us to have to personally deal with and the surviving party will be in turn weakened. If Alucard is the victor, he's likely to make his move to steal away my Sunshine for himself once business is concluded and her guard was dropped from being left alone the last few days."

"So how do you want to proceed to make certain that doesn't happen if Sunshine wasn't willing to go to the mansion for safe keeping?" Davin asked. "Do you want us to attempt to reason with her without alarming her over the situation?"

"After the scares she has already had, if I can avoid her having any others I am going to take that course," Liam stated. "The neighborhood Mercedes's apartment is in, being the residential low rent district that it is, does not have any security cameras we can tap into to keep an eye on her. As Sunshine has such a strong view on personal boundaries and privacy, and there were no threats to her wellbeing before now, I never had one of our own installed to keep watch on her when she was away from the mansion as I did not wish to have yet another argument with her should she discover I did so.

"Henrick has not had an opening to have one of our own installed somewhere discreet since this situation began to develop and, at this point, video surveillance will not be enough to keep her safe where she is in Alucard's sights. Depending on how quickly he makes his move and what he does specifically, even if we spotted him immediately on a feed, he could possibly disable Sunshine before she could immobilize him, and then kidnap her and Xander before we could arrive to stop him. Therefore, for the time being, you two are simply going to keep a silent watch on my Sunshine and the little one. With Marrick's ability to cast basic enchantments to block senses, and staying in the suits to keep yourselves from sun exposure, you two will be able to keep that watch and be near enough to respond should the enemy show himself, without alerting Mercedes or Alucard to your presence if you keep a safe distance."

"Wait a minute?!" Marrick said with unrestrained irritation. "Let me see if I've got this right… Because you upset Sunshine a couple of times, you not only let her personal preferences whip you into how you handled telling her about this new danger, but also how you've been keeping track of her?! You know full well she was supposed to be under surveillance when not at the mansion! It's bad enough that you let her leave and walk around without her ring since her hissy fit, but not even having mundane watch on her?! And now, rather than just telling her she needed to get herself and Xander back home to the mansion and not throw another tantrum about it, you're sending us away from the action and out on babysitting duty? That's seriously the plan?!"

"Marrick," Liam said, foxfire gaze flaring in fury as it leveled on the younger vampire. "One more disrespectful comment or question of orders and I may just forget you are a part of my dark family and take away the undead existence I allowed Fiona to give you."

"Quite," Davin agreed stonily. "When one of your consorts is in some danger, you may decide how you handle her and how you order those under you to protect her. Otherwise, whether or not you agree with Liam's methods for his own consort and son, it is his prerogative to make those choices he feels is best for Mercedes and Xander. It is your place to follow his orders as he is our Grandsire and he is also the Elder of highest standing who issues the mandates we all follow if we wish to continue residing in this country."

"I am not going against Grandsire, Davin, so chill with the selective lemming mentality," Marrick indignantly defended. "You were right there with Denissa just four months ago, arguing against Liam's wishes for dealing with Sunshine, while I was supporting Grandsire's right to make his own decisions for his consort."

"We were protecting all three's best interests as we felt Liam hadn't fully considered the ramifications," Davin said sharply. "Once those views were made known in a manner respectful to Liam, we left the ultimate decision to his discretion. And even he agreed that we made valid points and thanked us for giving our opinions towards the goal of protecting his consort and son. There's a distinct difference between giving advice and being insubordinate, and you seem to be forgetting that important fact right now."

"Excuse me, counselor, but at what point in this trial I'm suddenly on did I object to Sunshine and the little man being properly protected? Let's see, the records show, 'Not once!' I care about them as much as any of us. In point of fact, I'm trying to make sure Xavier and the others don't have some reason to question Grandsire again. Cuz if they find out about this, they're going to flip their shit and take back their end of the deal we all risked our necks to have made! There's no reason we need baby sit the stubborn woman and bend even further rules that were already bent in half for her benefit. Whether she wants to go or not, she's only a consort and she clearly is in need of a swift reminder…"

Whatever else Marrick meant to say about his views on what reminders Mercedes was in need of, he didn't have the chance to.

Faster than even Davin could follow, Liam teleported in front of Marrick and his hand was around the taller vampire's throat, slamming Marrick into the wall directly behind where he had been standing. The force of the slam cracked part of the wall and the sword on Marrick's back left an imbedded impression of its outline in the plaster. Though bigger than Liam in both height and weight, Marrick was being held a few inches off the ground and he couldn't pry his Grandsire's steely grip from his throat, nor could he pull away from the spot Liam had him pinned to.

Davin watched in stoic silence, not particular surprised. It was not the first time the two had come to some altercation with one another over some difference, even if the incidents were still rather rare and Marrick's behavior was provoking Liam to react quite a bit more forcefully than in the past.

Shadows black as pitch had instantly gathered around Liam, flickering with an ethereal golden light like lightning in the midst of a tornado. Golden predatory eyes peered out from the shadows, sharp curved beaks snapped and vicious talons slashed. Liam was keeping his taller dark grandchild lifted and pinned to the wall despite the height difference because massive feathered wings had formed from between his shoulders and, combined with the Elder's ability to defy gravity, were easily keeping him hovering off the ground and just above Marrick.

Liam's lips pulled back to give a vicious snarl, his canines and incisors elongated, the former lethally sharp teeth long enough to be touching his drawn back lower lip. Long strands of hair around his face and pulled back into the tail had become slender golden-brown feathers with the surge of demonic energy and channeling aspects of his familiars. Liam's eyes had shifted from fiery green like driftwood burning to brassy orange-green, then straight to a golden-red flame.

Besides the snarl briefly issued, and the change in his eyes that remained, Liam's ivory face swiftly composed itself to an iciness that made his aquiline features terrifying rather than handsome.

The Elder vampire who made efforts to blend so well with humanity had shed that illusion. Liam appeared now, unmistakably, as the inhuman predator that he truly was. One who channeled forces of darkness and his familiars to annihilate those who crossed him.

And the Elder vampire who held the rule over all other Elders was now teetering on the brink of devouring something that had roused his anger. Liam tightened his grip around Marrick's throat and drew blood from the circular holes his now talon-like nails caused. Marrick's hands stilled in their futile attempts to remove his grandsire's fingers from his neck as he felt his blood begin to flow down his neck in small rivulets.

"Marrick," Liam spoke with the same glacial impassiveness his face held. "You were expressly warned about your tone of voice and attitude by myself not one minute ago, and then by Davin just before you again caused insult to myself. You may have been elevated to the status of Elder, but we will always be your elders and I will always be the Elder who rules this country. And Mercedes is not just any consort. She is _my_ consort," Liam made certain to emphasize that detail. "Which places her above you in this familial hierarchy and you owe her your service by virtue of your relation to myself. In six months' time Mercedes will be my bride, which will make her my equal in the Elder hierarchy for as long as I reign and she lives, whom all vampires in this country will likewise owe their services to if they wish to retain the lives I grace them the privilege of living."

Liam leaned ever closer to Marrick, noses nearly touching, as his voice became even sharper and his grip tightened dangerously on Marrick's throat. "You will not forget those facts and you will remember your place! Grandson of mine or not, such insubordination and insult will not be tolerated without recourse. And make no mistake, an insult on Mercedes's character _is_ an insult on myself, as is you daring to tell me how to handle my consort as if you know better than I. Were it not for the fact that I know you care for my Sunshine and my boy near as much as I do, which is as much a qualification for being given this assignment as the ability to hold a secret was, I would rip your voice box out here and now in such a way that would make certain that even you could not regenerate one anew for daring to speak to me and of my intended bride in such fashions. Should you _ever_ venture to let issue such insolent words again, or otherwise indicate such an attitude towards myself or my future bride, I promise you, servant of mine, you will find yourself being stripped of _any_ semblance of self that would allow you to even _think_ those thoughts and then consigned to death, as you would already be had you not been granted the gift of _my_ blood running through your veins!"

Liam's talon-tipped fingers released their grip on Marrick and the younger vampire was dropped a few inches down to his feet.

Marrick staggered at the abrupt release but managed to keep his footing. His hand went to his neck and then drew away. The younger vampire looked at his own blood drenching his hand, frightened shock growing on his face. His wounds were not immediately healing as they usually would. Had Liam applied any further pressure while forcing his vampiric grandson's body not to heal, Marrick's trachea and larynx would have easily been torn out. Marrick knew Liam was capable of exercising his vampiric powers in such ways, or casting enchantments with similar effects, that could indeed keep him from regenerating the lost body parts. And he well knew his grandsire could hold to his threat of utterly destroying his existence if he was of a mind to.

Marrick lifted his hellfire gaze to meet his grandsire's as Liam lowered himself to the ground with ethereal ease, feathered wings folding neatly behind his back.

"I apologize, Grandsire," Marrick said in a rough, half-choked voice, humbled by the show of force few vampires, even among the Elders, were capable of, "for the disrespect I gave you. I will be more careful to watch my tongue and tone in the future as I do not wish to anger you."

"See that you do," Liam agreed, his own tone not changing. His eyes shifted back to their usual faintly glowing foxfire green, his talons returned to a human's perfectly manicured nails, feathers around his face shifted back to that of a human's light brown hair, his wings disappearing with the falcon-filled shadows that dispersed. "My dark family has few members remaining and I would hate to lessen that number. Especially one as dear to me as you, Marrick. But do not _ever_ dare think I will not exterminate a rebellious or weak child of my lineage if you give me cause to believe you are such."

Marrick gave a somber nod and lowered his eyes from his grandsire. "I understand, Grandsire. Again, I apologize for my unmindful behavior."

Liam gave a brief nod as well and then took a step back from Marrick. He removed a handkerchief from a pocket in his protective jacket and deftly wiped his nails clean of the blood that remained, not one to drink his own line's blood except during the process of permanently eliminating them.

Davin was finished dressing and was now double checking his weapons before strapping them in place. Unlike Liam and Marrick, and his bride, Sasha; Davin favored revolvers as a firearm, and his chest harness was specially designed to store a large number of quick-load cartridges for the six-shooters. He was also armed with a matching pair of great swords, with slightly more slender blades than usually seen, crossed at his back. Wrist blades of a similar spring-loaded design to Mercedes's set were in place, a kukri was strapped to each outer thigh, and Bowie knives were tucked into his boots. The number of additional small blades of various styles that Davin had on him that could not be seen were nearly double that of those that could be.

Mercedes had picked up a number of hand-to-hand and bladed combat tricks from Davin, along with her own wrist daggers as a birthday gift a few years previous, but the Elder vampire had many and more skills that had not yet been passed on to the human and he never went into a potential combat situation with a shortage of weapons on hand. His own bride's affinity for weapons, even if they were the more modern choices, was one of the reasons Davin had been so immediately smitten with Sasha upon their first encounter a century ago.

"Do you have specific orders for what we are to do should Alucard attempt to come after Sunshine?" Davin asked as he armed himself.

"I do," Liam replied calmly, returning to the main discussion as well. "While it is unlikely Iscariot may target my Sunshine or little Xander, these orders also apply for that scenario should things devolve in Center City and it appears an attempted sweep-and-clean is extending to them as well. Should either danger appear to be heading in their direction, you are to go in, make Mercedes aware of the situation, and remove them both to the mansion immediately."

"I am not intending to argue," Marrick said quietly, his wounds quickly healing now that they were being allowed to, but his lesson in regards to offending behavior was longer lasting, "but what if Sunshine still doesn't want to go to the mansion? She could immobilize us both and then we would be unable to protect or evacuate her."

"I already considered that." Liam reached into a pocket within a leg of his tactical pants and pulled out two slender golden chains that each held a small golden disk no bigger than a silver dollar. Futhark runes were carved into each pendant in an interweaving design. "While I strongly doubt she would do so, this is a counter-ward for that particular enchantment of Sunshine's and will keep that possibility from happening. The other means of protection she is capable of you both can handle, know how to avoid triggering, or are ones she would not be willing to use on you. Mercedes may be upset to find out that I had her under guard when she did not wish to be, but my Sunshine would never harm those close to us when they are simply trying to protect her and our son on my orders. She should go with you quietly enough if the situation becomes critical and needs to be divulged."

Davin and Marrick each took a necklace from Liam and slipped them over their necks without question. They trusted that Liam's extensive knowledge of such workings was more than sufficient to handle Mercedes's defenses as Liam had helped her bring into creation some of the improvements she had theorized for her enchantments against vampires.

Liam continued to give his instructions with a grave tone that brooked no arguments.

"Should the mansion come under attack, either on your way to bring Mercedes and Xander there or while there, or should the enemy be too close, especially Alucard, and therefore making the longer trip unlikely to be safe, you are to evacuate my Sunshine and the little one to my private jet. If at the mansion, you take the hidden tunnel beneath the east wing to the end doorway to minimize the chances of them being caught in the crossfire. Marrick knows all the current codes to that exit and I know you both know the way. The jet's personnel are on standby and under order to fly straight to my estate in Ireland where my servants have prepared rooms for them and yourselves. Henrick has arranged for false information to be relayed should my jet take off to make the bastard think you are bringing her to France because he already knows about my estate there.

"If he manages to get his plane in the air before the authorities can ground it for us, with the delays in readying it for another flight and his servants needing to take the time to hack into the airspace's logs to find out where my plane is supposedly flying to, he will not realize the switch in destination until he lands in France and finds my jet is not there. By then, you, Sunshine and Xander will be safely in Ireland and he will have no easy means to find out where you really went. You are to get my intended bride and son on that jet at all costs if the need arises. And if by some hellish stroke of luck something happens to my jet, you get out of the city entirely, up to New York and onto Davin's jet, aimed for the same end location. The jet would be prepared to leave by the time you arrive and the same misinformation has been arranged to be sent should it be Davin's jet used."

Liam's gaze went to both Marrick and Davin in turn before he stated with icy resolve that allowed no mistaking his sincerity, "And when I say you evacuate them at all costs, I want you both to understand I mean that without exception. If at the mansion and safety is compromised, your only objective is to evacuate Mercedes and Xander, not the others. They have their own guardians and I am sure they have been given their own instructions by those who order them if an attack seems unlikely to be repelled. You two are there to guard Sunshine and Xander and them alone. You get them to safety at either location regardless of casualties.

"If Alucard is in pursuit, you run and you do not stop unless one of you need slow him down so the other can get my consort and my son to the mansion or on a jet. As soon as you have them aboard, you are in the air and over the ocean where Alucard will not be able to follow without his own jet. You do not wait for me or any of the others. Even if I am detained because I am engaging in a fight, you leave. I have my own alternative means of escape. Mercedes and Xander do not and you will see to it that they get out of the path of destruction. If I am not able to make it to the jet in time, I will meet you in Ireland once I am clear of danger and not at risk of leading the enemy to where you have hidden them."

Liam's eyes flickered back to golden-red in warning as he concluded, "If things go wrong and my Sunshine and my boy end up pulled into this conflict, and you fail to protect them, the only reason that will be acceptable to me is that you both died attempting to safeguard them. You both are of my bloodline, Elders or not, and it is your responsibility to protect my consort and my son as I order. Fail to do so and you will spend, at minimum, the next century learning the meaning of unrelenting agony before I end your lives as they should have been as punishment for failing to protect my future bride and our son. Have I been in any way unclear?"

"No, Liam," Davin confirmed with sincere graveness. "We know what course to take in the event they are endangered by either enemy and we will protect them with our lives."

"We'll keep them safe, Grandsire," Marrick replied with just as much solemnity. "We won't allow any harm to come to either."

"I am trusting in you both that you will not. Do not fail me."

.

.

.

It was an hour before dawn was due to arise and herald Saturday morning officially starting.

Davin and Marrick had left once their orders had been given and were still at their posts. They called in twice to report all was quiet, mother and child were both sleeping from their heart rates. Apparently Mercedes had her hell hounds in the apartment and Xander's demonic snake was keeping watch in the roof tonight. Even with Marrick's sensory blocking barriers, they were having to maintain a slightly more cautious distance than originally expected for monitoring the humans and relying on non-visual means to avoid alerting Mercedes through the familiars to their presence. The familiars would be able to sense the magic of the barriers, even if they couldn't penetrate them to see who was waiting hidden within.

Liam couldn't help but give a proud smirk when he had heard Davin and Marrick report about the demonic familiars keeping guard.

Once more, as he often did, Liam appreciated that his Sunshine was indeed capable of defending herself as best as a human could, that little Xander was already growing in her footsteps, and that she was taking the threats from earlier this week seriously enough to have the familiars protecting their sleep. Human or not, Mercedes continually proved her worth as his intended bride and such knowledge strengthened Liam's resolve to protect his family and make her the acknowledged exception to the rules in every way possible.

The Elder vampire just wished his consort and his boy were in the greater safety offered by the mansion, surrounded by its built-in defenses and numerous guards. His Sunshine's happiness was paramount to Liam, however, especially after all the upsets she had had in the last few years from his mistakes or from outside causes. He wasn't going to allow her peace of mind to be disrupted again unless severe need arose.

With the relief brought from receiving the updates from Davin and Marrick, and knowing that two of his dearest and strongest dark children were there to protect his human family, Liam could keep the majority of his attention focused with the other Elders as they stayed at the forefront and waited to see how the situation here in Center City played out in case they needed to act and join the conflict.

The two servants of Alucard had arrived barely over two hours earlier and had gone with their master to his hotel room with coffins wrapped and hidden from public view and little else in hand. They had been spotted leaving the hotel just a few minutes ago. The male was without any luggage in hand. The female was carrying a massive case propped over one shoulder; a case that had likely been stowed away in her coffin.

The American Elders were watching from a camera that had panned over and zoomed in on their command to keep watch on the three foreign vampires who had been tracked to the Archdiocese and were taking up position across the street from the building. The female vampire began unpacking what looked like a large rocket launcher and was setting it up on the roof as the two males, one of whom they had all instantly recognized, kept watch on the Archdiocese. A large ammo box was set next to the weapon and the weapon was shifted to take aim at something, though not fired.

The female, identified as one Seras Victoria, was a petite, yet extremely buxom, strawberry blonde haired vampire, appearing in her very early twenties. She was dressed in a black mini skirt made of thick jean material and blood-red military-esque short-sleeved dress shirt made of light-weight cotton and devoid of name tag, insignia or military crest. Thigh-high silk stockings matched the color of her shirt and knee high leather combat boots and a leather belt cinched over her shirt matched her skirt. A handgun was holstered on the belt and there were spare clips lining the length of the belt.

The second vampire, identified by intel as one Walter Dornez, was a distinguished and serious looking male, appearing in his later twenties. His jet-black hair was pulled back into a tight tail, showing a widow's peak hair line. He was dressed in a pair of fitted black dress slacks, a crisply pressed white dress shirt, and a black button-down vest. Spotless black leather finger-less gloves covered his hands, crimson armbands were strapped around either lean bicep, and his slender silk tie matched the armbands. He bore no firearms or other weapons that could be seen, but intel indicated that appearances could be deceiving with this vampire and that was not to say he came here defenseless. A monocle he wore- clearly for show, or out of habit from his human life, as his vampiric sight would be inherently perfect- would catch the light from the street lights below them on occasion, usually when he glanced down to the female situated near her weapon.

"Liam, they appear to be setting up for a heavy assault on the Archdiocese," Denissa stated.

Liam gave a sardonic smirk at Denissa's observation, a far cry from the usual charming smile gracing his aristocratic features, but not nearly as harsh as the expression he had donned when Marrick had been trying his patience. Liam almost wanted to thank Denissa for pointing out the obvious as she usually didn't waste her voice to do something like that, but he knew she was under near as much pressure as himself and restrained the comment.

"It appears they are," Liam simply agreed. His voice was impassive despite the smirk.

"Need to make a correction on that, boss man. The female is aiming her weapon towards the garage rather than the Archdiocese itself," Henrick noted as he tapped at the laptop in front of him and had the bank camera pan to a slightly different angle to allow a rough guess of the trajectory. "Do you think they somehow obtained information about Iscariot planning to make a move this morning? Or do you think they're planning to keep Iscariot from running while also drawing them out with an explosion?"

"It may be possible that they have information," Liam stated. "How, I do not know, but it is possible. A dawn attack from Iscariot to press the advantage of vampiric weaknesses to the sun has been known to happen." Liam didn't need to specifically mention to anyone present that such an hour had been when Iscariot last tried a sweep and clean here in Philadelphia. "It would explain why Alucard is moving so soon after his servants landed instead of waiting for a more opportune time. It would be an odd tactic for Alucard to choose to begin a battle so close to dawn, when his own servants would be weakened with the sun rising and are not wearing protective suits. Unless, of course, Alucard moved so quickly thinking that he could keep ahead of Iscariot finding out about his servants' arrivals, and felt it may be easier to catch them off guard during an hour when the Catholics would think such an attack would be less practical, and felt that he could finish the fight before his servants became terribly weakened."

"Which do you think is more likely?" Sasha asked, her tone once more that of sanguine expectancy.

"Either way, it leads to the two fighting one another." Liam's foxfire gaze met Sasha's and he continued with perceivable rebuke to his tone, "Therefore, why Alucard is choosing to move now is not one of our concerns, Sasha."

"Point conceded," Sasha said more soberly as she nodded her agreement and reigned back in her impatient excitement.

"Your orders, Liam?" Denissa asked deferentially.

Sasha playfully stuck her tongue out at Denissa with a roll of her eyes, causing Denissa to smirk ever so slightly in amused fondness.

"Orders remain as they are for the time being," Liam said with the patient cunning that had kept him alive the last three centuries, gaze once more on Denissa and drawing her attention from Sasha. "We maintain our watch. If all this activity has indeed been because the tyrants of Iscariot and our dear Dark Father and his servants wish to have another shot at destroying one another, we allow them to do what damage they can to weaken their respective ranks. Should either side prevail over the other and then move to bring the conflict further out, we sweep in and destroy those who remain. As it stands, none of our major investments are within close enough proximity to the Archdiocese to be effected and this aggressive move by Alucard threatens none of our people. I will not have needless casualties."

"Should we alert the others that the first move is being made?" Denissa asked.

"Call Cesco and let him know it is finally beginning so everyone at the mansion knows to stay alert," Liam agreed.

Denissa nodded and pulled out her cell phone to do as instructed. Liam's gaze was once more on the TV screens.

The female vampire, Seras Victoria, had finished setting up her weapon and was now sitting next to it, drinking from a blood pack like it was a juice box. The other servant vampire, Walter Dornez, was standing nearest her. They could be seen exchanging a look, though no verbal altercation happened, then they looked over to their master.

Liam's attention was on Alucard as well, watching his grand-sire's movements closest.

Alucard was standing stock straight, legs spread slightly, arms crossed behind his back in the military 'At Ease' stance. He was dressed in his usual sleek black suit and crimson duster jacket, ebony riding boots fitting over the pants. His jacket was left unbuttoned and his notorious guns were at his hips, waiting for action. His messy black bangs were partially obscuring his eyes; his jet-black fedora casting shadows over his face and wire-rimmed orange-tinted glasses completed the veiling of his hellfire gaze. The direction of his gaze was intently trained on the target building before them, regardless of what his servants were doing.

'He is waiting for something specific,' Liam thought to himself. 'The only question is- 'What?''

Liam glanced over to Denissa. "I will return in a minute. I need to call Davin and make him aware of the situation as well."

Denissa nodded once in agreement, having been privately told where Davin and Marrick had been sent when there had been an opportunity to do so, and Liam left the room.

The other Elders had still not been apprised of the assignment Davin and Marrick had been sent on. Despite their curiosity or questions as to where the two were when Liam had returned from sending them out, they had withheld from further questions when Liam stated it was an important assignment and not being disclosed at this time. Liam had left the room thrice since to answer Davin's scheduled calls or make the call to inform him of Alucard's servants arriving.

Liam went to an office down the hall, secured the room with an enchantment, and pulled out his cell phone to dial Davin's number.

"Yes, Liam?" Davin asked after the second ring.

"Be aware that Alucard has taken up position outside the Archdiocese with his servants and appears to be setting up for an assault on the building. Remain alert as things are about to begin, but do not act yet."

"Understood," Davin confirmed. "You will be glad to know all is still quiet here and your Sunshine has risen for the day. Xander is still abed and peacefully asleep."

"I am indeed glad to hear that," Liam replied with a smile at the news. "Continue your watch and make certain my Sunshine continues to shine the entirety of the day and my boy stays just as safe."

"She'll shine for many days to come and Xander will be in fit state to give your servants no end of trouble when next he's at the mansion," Davin promised in good humor. "You have our word on that."

"Thank you, Davin."

"Of course, Liam."

Liam hung up and went back to the meeting hall to wait with the others for the questions they had been tossing back and forth to finally be given some answer.

They only had to wait another twenty minutes, just a scarce half hour before dawn, before that answer started to reveal itself. They watched as Alucard's two servants suddenly came to attention at a command from Alucard. The female was instantly behind her weapon and the two men were dropping down from the 10 story building to the ground below. The female's weapon was trained still on the garage, which was now beginning to slowly open.

"And now the show starts," Sasha muttered with anticipation from down the table. "Let's see what our dark forefather and Iscariot can do."

"I'm calling dibs on that jacket of his if Iscariot manages to take him out," Henrick said with a smirk from across the table.

"Assuming there's enough of it left to salvage," Aaron said with amusement. Almost as much of a firearms junkie as Sasha, he added, "You can keep the jacket, I want those guns. And I'll earn them myself by being part of the crew that sweeps in to drop the old bastard if the orders are given."

"Bet on who gets the most confirmed hits should we need engage? Prize is the guns?" Sasha asked the much older vampire with a canine revealing grin.

"You got it sweetheart. Try to keep up," Aaron replied in good humor. "Henrick, you make sure you keep the feeds running. I don't want any protests over the outcome."

"I'll make sure the counts are a hell of a lot clearer than the Bush/Gore results in Florida," Henrick confirmed.

The hacker's smirk suddenly disappeared as his fingers raced over the keyboard of his computer to confirm a notice that had just popped up.


	23. Chapter 23 Assault on the Archdiocese

Chapter Twenty-Three

Assault on the Archdiocese

It was forty minutes before dawn and Alucard was positioned with Walter and Seras on a roof opposite the Archdiocese.

Alucard had ordered his servants to journey to the States as soon as it could be arranged for his private jet to fly back to England, be refueled and packed with their coffins and battle gear (things that would be far too conspicuous on a normal booked flight, even if such a flight would have been quicker to arrange,) and then be flown back to The United States. The two had arrived in The States only a few short hours ago. They had time to make it through customs, drop their coffins off in his hotel room and be given a very brief rundown of the immediate situation with Iscariot: the Catholic's defenses, known types of operatives and locations, and their known objectives. They were briefed on their mission, the plan of attack, and now they were at the Archdiocese and waiting for the opening to move.

The Archdiocese's garage, accessible through the car port doors or an underground tunnel that led to the main building, was reinforced with over a foot and a half of solid steel to safeguard against external attack. Even Seras's Harkonnen would have trouble blasting through the doors. Rather than risk a possible failed attempt to blow their way in to destroy the vehicles and prematurely alert Iscariot to their presence, they were patiently waiting for the vehicle or vehicles that would contain Anderson and the operatives that would be sent to kill the seer and her son.

Seras was sipping at a blood pack nervously, wondering when Iscariot would make their move as it drew closer to dawn.

She and Walter- being vampires directly created by the progenitor of vampires and having been given several strengthening infusions of his blood beyond what was needed to change them, and pushed by their master to constantly train to strengthen their vampiric gifts- were already strong enough to survive being exposed to sunlight. Despite that, they would still be weakened by the exposure and the hope was to be finished this conflict before the sun had fully risen.

Walter and Alucard seemed confident the blitzkrieg strike could be accomplished before Iscariot knew what hit them, but Seras was concerned nonetheless about the encroaching hour of dawn.

Seras glanced up at Walter and after a few seconds he met her gaze with an encouraging smile. They both turned their gazes to their master, who was ignoring their many silent exchanges and watching the Archdiocese with a great deal more tension than he usually displayed before a fight.

"Walter, do you think Master is alright?" Seras asked telepathically so as to not disturb their master or draw attention from pedestrians who were occasionally walking below to early morning jobs. She turned her gaze back to Walter. "I don't believe I have ever seen him express anything but excitement and anticipation for a chance to engage in a fight with Iscariot, but he looks quite serious today. You'd think he'd be laughing and making jests as usual at the prospect of a major counter-strike to their plans, whatever their end objective is."

"I am sure Master Alucard is well, Miss Seras," Walter replied, gaze briefly flicking back to said vampire before meeting Seras's gaze once more. "He is likely just contemplating how to keep this conflict from expanding out further than ourselves in such a public venue. Usually our engagements take place somewhere more remote. This will need be a quick strike, rather than his usual toying with the operatives, to avoid problems with the local authorities or the operatives slipping past and reaching the humans. Master Alucard is undoubtedly trying to keep his attention focused to do so without slipping into a bloodlust."

Seras nodded slowly and tossed her empty blood pack into the bottom of her ammo case to one side. "He did seem concerned about the latter possibility of agents getting away."

"Yes, he did," Walter agreed. "And given that Anderson is involved, that concern is rather justified."

"I still can't believe those monsters want to send him to kill a mother and child." Seras's disgust was plainly evident, as they had finally been apprised of the basics of the human ally's situation and her vision. "They're humans, for the love of God! And Anderson has a soft spot for kids! How he could agree to go kill one is bloody low for even him!"

"They're humans who practice dark magic," Walter pointed out. "That's near as bad as our kind to Iscariot."

"There's plenty of self-proclaimed witches and pagans running about The States these days!" Seras argued. "Iscariot hasn't gone burning down every shop that opens to promote such and killing every witch who claims to be such! And the boy is still just that. It's not like he is an adult out bringing in recruits to the forces of darkness. Nor is his mother! She's a bartender without any sort of record to be worried about! Your own digging into her background showed that!"

"Yes, but most of those self-proclaimed witches do not have the capability of tapping into any magic in truth, light or dark," Walter said pragmatically. "They are little threat to Iscariot except that they make it more commonly acceptable to speak of magic. While Iscariot may not like such, setting hundreds of shops ablaze in an attempt to try discouraging the trend would most certainly eventually bring them under the public eye, in a negative light no less that would garner more sympathy for those who were attacked by Iscariot. Contrarily, someday that little boy who is already summoning familiars will grow up and could be someone who could be a true threat to Iscariot; as his noble-born mother who associates, even if discreetly, with vampires has the distinct potential to be if she were the combative sort. They may be thinking more long term in their rationalizations."

"Bloody hypocrites is what the Catholics are," Seras said vehemently. "Anderson uses magic without relent when fighting us!"

"Indeed," Walter agreed dryly. "And as Master Alucard said, they are not trying to recruit Ms. Dreux-Brézé or her son in the same fashion they did with Anderson and other special operatives. They must have some reason for classifying them as definitive enemies and risking her family being made aware of who orchestrated their murders."

"Whatever their reasons, Iscariot had bloody well hurry with getting themselves on the road," Seras said impatiently. "Dawn is not far off and they're supposed to be arriving at the humans' apartment then. They'll be late if they wait much longer to leave."

"They shall move when they move, Miss Seras," Walter said patiently. "Just be ready to make the opening shot when they do."

"No worries on that account," Seras replied with a cheerful smile. "I am looking forward to the chance to use these new explosive rounds you had created. That'll give Iscariot something to think twice about when they want to go plotting to hurt innocent people."

Walter smirked slightly at Seras' chipper, almost child-like sweet, tones despite her openly stated intention to destroy something or someone. "I am glad you are enjoying them so much, Miss Seras."

"I am. You really outdid yourself on these shells' design, Walter."

"Thank you, Miss Seras," Walter replied as he gave a pleased nod in acknowledgement.

"Walter, Seras," Alucard's voice cut out into the night like a sharply cracked whip. "They're moving."

Seras quickly crouched down behind the Harkonnen and Walter went to his master's side. As Seras checked the sights on the mini-canon and double-checked that it was properly loaded, Walter and Alucard dropped as silently as two specters to the ground over a hundred feet below. Walter had his practically invisible strands of monomolecular wire stretched between his fingers by the time they landed and both men moved to the shadows of the building as the garage was slowly opening.

"Um… Master?" Seras's surprised voice was in both of their minds when the garage was still only half open. "Am I seeing extra reflections of light from up here, or are there more than two vehicles?"

"There are at least six lined up to leave," Alucard confirmed stoically, the Casull and Jackal now removed from their holsters. "Seems we'll be having a full engagement this morning. Plan for the first strike remains the same. When the first is at the entrance of the garage, fire. The blast and damage should barricade the rest behind it, stop the garage from being sealed up again and perhaps take out a few vehicles behind it. We'll sweep in to take out the survivors in the other vehicles during the confusion. Primary target, Father Anderson."

"Yes, Master," Seras replied. The garage was fully open now and the neat line of vehicles was approaching the exit.

Seras waited patiently until the first SUV was in place.

Then the deep boom of her Harkonnen reverberated through the still morning from the rooftop.

A scant second later the unmistakable blast of an explosion followed as the lead vehicle was reduced to a conflagration of twisted metal.

The heat of the blaze hit Walter and Alucard with a palpable force, blowing each vampire's dark hair about and sending the ends of Alucard's duster flapping wildly behind him. Shards of scorched metal, flaming rubber of tires, and bits of melted glass rained down on both sides of the street and around the vampires.

Walter and Alucard stood calmly amidst the destruction. Walter easily shifted a few inches to the right to avoid being impaled by a razor-sharp piece of metal from the hood of the SUV that went flying at him.

The vehicle behind the first SUV was not so lucky, taking the brunt of the damage from the explosion. As the remaining four vehicles tried to back up from the raging fire, the ones furthest back having their front bumpers banged into by the impatient and frightened drivers in front of them, three surviving operatives spilled out of the second SUV to escape the burning vehicle.

"Seras, another explosion to knock on the side doors of the Archdiocese should get the rats to come pouring out rather than retreat," Alucard ordered. Taking aim with the Cassul, he deftly shot down the three panicked operatives in a quick succession of shots.

"Yes, Master."

Seras had already reloaded the Harkonnen and within seconds the wooden side doors of the Archdiocese, and a large section of stone wall, were joining the garage in its blazing glory. The force of the blast sent most of the stone debris ricocheting into the building and agony-filled screams could be heard from those within who were injured.

Alucard's gun blasts rang out in the pre-dawn gloom, taking out the front tires of the third vehicle just before it was able to retreat out of sight into the garage. Alucard eliminated the two soldiers in the front of the vehicle. Those in the back were safe from his gun, for the moment, as the back end of the vehicle had made it around a corner.

To Walter, Alucard instructed with a malicious grin forming, "They'll try the front doors for a safer exit now. Go greet the catholic dogs in proper style, Angel of Death. Be indiscriminate with your reception. Any associates of Iscariot's lurking in the building tonight are equally deserving as they are supporting the operatives and their puppeteers."

"With pleasure, Master Alucard," Walter said with a darkly amused smirk.

A blur of white and black was all that could be seen as the English vampire raced around the building.

"Seras, fourth floor, far left side." Alucard ordered her to aim where they knew, from the janitor he had drained some days earlier, a large portion of the operatives were being kept, including their medical teams. "Keep them from retreating up the stairs to whatever they are so carefully hiding in there or those already there from aiding their friends below."

"Yes, my Master!" Seras replied, as cheerful as if he had asked her to deliver candy rather than death to those inside.

Once again, the young vampire was quickly firing into the side of the Archdiocese and her Harkonnen's shell blasted into the warded building with merciless force.

Walter was already on the other side of the Archdiocese when the third blast hit.

When outfitted operatives, formally dressed clergy, and uniformed support personnel- secretaries, guards and wait staff- began making their way out of the building, Walter made the wires dangling from his fingers lengthen with the use of his vampiric energy. He quickly calculated their numbers and his angle of attack from where he waited in the shadows.

Nearly three dozen people came trickling out in pairs and small groups, coughing from the smoke billowing within the building, civilians following escape orders from the soldiers.

Walter waited patiently for the first wave of survivors to congregate outside the building, until the flow of humanity had tapered off and it was clear that those who could immediately reach the doors had done so. The vampire justly named the Angel of Death raced with preternatural speed that was uncommonly fast for even a vampire around the edge of the driveway, just out of sight of the pools of light cast by the street light. His wires dropped down as delicately as a spider web around the enemies.

Protective combat suits, expensive cotton and silk clerical robes, polyester or linen suits- all offered the same negligible protection against the sleek and sharper-than-a-razor wires. They weren't allowed time to pull against the wires and discover from the resistance that they were in mortal danger as the Angel of Death secured his grip on the wires.

A single expert tug with superhuman strength and the pavement was suddenly flooded with streams of blood and littered with severed body parts, mostly heads, looking like the morning aftermath of a wild University kegger if the fiends of purgatory gave their own macabre rendition.

Not a single enemy was left standing. Though, a few were still alive because their injuries weren't instantaneously fatal due to how the wires had fallen.

"Oh my," Walter said to himself. "It seems my aim was a little off for those four. Well, it has been some time since I've had quite so large a group."

A few seemingly careless flicks of his wrist, a fleeting glint of wire in the light, and the error was rectified before the shell-shocked humans could register what had befallen and begin screaming in agony or terror.

The Angel of Death remained in the shadows and effortlessly picked off a few stragglers as they exited the building; wires tugging them away from the entrance, tearing them to pieces, before they could register the gruesome sight before them and shout an alarm to those inside.

While Walter dispatched those fleeing out the front, Seras lifted up her Harkonnen and its closed case and began leaping from rooftop to rooftop at her master's command to attack the operative's main wing from a new angle.

Alucard had entered the first level of the fortified garage, easily avoiding harm from the blazing mess of the destroyed vehicles at the entrance. The vampire had noticed when the enchantress had done her magic to inspect Iscariot's enchantments that the garage was not protected by anti-vampire wards as the main building was. The boundary of the ward's bubble of protection ended around the edge of the short tunnel that ran underground between the two buildings. Their garage, while reinforced, was still their weak point because their magic could only cover just so wide an area.

Alucard moved to annihilate the operatives within before they could retreat to their besieged, yet still enchanted, nest within the main building. His bullets tore through the tires of vehicles on his way in, preventing those empty vehicles from being utilized as escapes should any operatives slip past him. Unlike many tall parking garages in Philadelphia, the Archdiocese's multi-floored garage descended down another level that was far vaster than the one above, giving an outer appearance of being smaller space than it was. The second floor is where the tunnel resided that would lead to the main building.

Alucard's confident strides brought him around to the ramp that led down to the second level as he reloaded his guns, senses open for the smallest sign of operatives, especially Anderson, or vehicles approaching. None remained on the first level or the ramp. Alucard's gaze flicked downward, hearing frenzied activity on the second floor. With a smirk, the vampire leapt over the guard rail at the top of the ramp and dropped straight down to the second floor, shifting into a shadow state instantaneously.

The four, no, five, remaining vehicles containing operatives were parked at the far end of the cavernous underground garage among several other parked and empty vehicles. Some of the operatives, none of whom included Anderson, were outside their vehicles and using an intercom by the tunnel's reinforced entrance to request entrance by a system override from the main building. Apparently their personal codes were being rejected, the system was in an emergency lock-down mode, and they had heard with growing terror that death was steadily coming for them by the means of a firestorm of bullets.

Alucard smirked wider, knowing that any surviving inside the main building weren't likely to be issuing that code, if their systems were even still operating enough after the destruction to be able to send such an override. Unless the operatives faced the attack outside or could force their way into the tunnel, they had trapped themselves in their retreat.

Another boom of Seras's Harkonnen assaulting the main building could be felt more than heard as shockwaves sent tremors through the garage. The Vampire King was proud of his Police Girl, both for getting over her fear of using the canon and for finally embracing her vampiric nature so she had the strength and fortitude needed for such missions. She had proved quite capable with her weapons and it made such assaults far easier to coordinate when there was artillery assistance provided by a vampire who wasn't starving herself into uselessness. It had been a long and arduous battle to get her to this point, but he had known she had it in her to accomplish and it was times like these that made that irritating breaking period worthwhile.

Not that he'd tell her that; she'd start getting sentimental, over-confident and lax if he did.

Alucard took aim, hands holding guns seeming to float unsubstantiated within the writhing mass of shadows. The operatives outside their armored vehicles were quite suddenly without heads following the rapid fire of his guns.

Two drivers of vehicles revved their engines, frantically trying to put the vehicles in gear to make an escape. They immediately found their tires being shot out.

Windows rolled down and the operatives began shooting their automatic weapons into empty air, unable to spot their enemy but hoping the heavy spray of return fire would find a few blessed bullets hitting their mark.

They didn't.

Alucard's incorporeal form shifted effortlessly to avoid injury.

The sire of all vampires' own bullets found their marks, however. His senses guided with unerring accuracy the unrivaled aim he had spent over half a millennium honing in tandem to the advancements in weaponry to fight with.

Starting with the drivers, operative after operative was executed with head and chest shots, defending fire steadily decreasing as limp hands dropped their weapons. A dozen or so died while trying to escape the death trap of their vehicles.

'Like shooting fish in a barrel,' the progenitor of vampires thought derisively.

Alucard's hellfire gaze narrowed in irritation, despite the efficiency of the enemies' deaths. Anderson wasn't among those operatives being sent.

His weapons emptied of their current clips, there was still half a dozen operatives alive. Rather than reload his guns, Alucard's shadowy form darted forward and he pulled an operative out of the open window of the SUV he was shooting from. The vampire was just as quickly darting up to the cement ceiling of the garage.

The soldier shouted for help from his comrades at the top of his lungs. His head was jerked to one side. Pearly white fangs appeared within the shadows and sank into the neck of the operative.

Alucard drank deeply of the warm blood rushing through the man's veins, pumped faster with the terrified racing of his heart. As the progenitor of vampires drained the Iscariot soldier's blood and stole away his soul, he was simultaneously searching the operative's memories for the reason for the large number of operatives being dispatched.

This wave of operatives were being sent out for a sweep-and-clean of the city, each group being given separate targets that were only disclosed to the those in the group. This soldier wasn't a part of the group meant to kill the seer and her son, so he was given no information about the humans. He wasn't given information about Anderson's purposes for being in the Archdiocese during his briefing. The operatives who were soldiers were being kept separate from the medical teams, and so he also had no knowledge of what the medical teams may or may not be doing in the rooms they were being secluded in.

Alucard was able to find certain bits of useful information, however.

The current operation had in fact been meant to be large scale, in multiple waves meant to destroy various targets. This sweep-and-clean was rumored among the soldiers as being meant to clear the way for whatever the doctors and specialists had been called in for. Though nothing had substantiated those rumors, nor was anyone sure exactly what that something the doctors and specialists would be doing was. But it was apparently a multi-layered operation, the doctors weren't there just to patch the soldiers up.

Alucard learned that Anderson had been inside the Archdiocese when the attack had started. He found out that Yumiko and Wolfe had been there as well; though how they had gotten into the country without him finding out was a mystery to be solved later. He also now knew the specifics of the interior layout of the Archdiocese where the main operatives were being kept…

And the location of the warded skyscraper the American Elders were reportedly congregating in, the target this group was given, though this lowly operative wasn't briefed on where the information was obtained from.

That last bit of information was one that Alucard had not previously discovered. He had rarely sensed other vampires around Center City, and those presences always disappeared from the city after being noticeable for only a short time. Alucard had wondered about that on a number of occasions, trying to discern just where exactly Liam was operating out of, if not downtown, but had come up with no solid leads. The skyscraper housing Liam's corporation had not been housing its owner for over a week now, nor had his much publicized penthouse apartment.

Alucard had finally theorized the pretentious punk was currently avoiding the city as much as he could get away with, with the progenitor of vampires present in his city and their first meeting becoming the pissing match it had, and was only returning for short stints to handle some business matter he couldn't from a distance, or sending his vampiric associates to do the same. Alucard had also been wondering why there didn't appear to be much response from the other Elders in regards to the growing activity by Iscariot, becoming perpetually more irritated with their lack of attention to such an obvious threat after he had previously heard that the Elders kept matters at least somewhat in hand.

Now he knew the American Elders were capable of using wards similar to the seer's and Iscariot's to keep enemies from sensing their locations with supernatural gifts. Alucard filed it away as a matter to be consciously aware of because a fluctuating number of the Elders were, according to Iscariot's source, congregating within their enchanted nest and not as inattentive to threats as it had seemed. Though what exactly it was they were doing, and how many were currently present, was not known to the operative. Simply that he and his group were to be storming the premises and killing those Elders who were within.

The knowledge of this warded building was also to be kept in mind because apparently Liam wasn't entirely bluffing when he said that he and the other Elders had those in their employ, or were personally, capable of some level of magic wielding. Though what level they were capable of, how many were capable of doing so, and what exactly they could do with that power, remained to be seen. But it was a fact to be appropriately wary of because Alucard had no intention of giving anyone an opportunity to try imprisoning him again. If any of the Elders came out of their hole and anywhere near himself, Alucard wasn't going to waste time with more territorial or threatening verbal exchanges. He'd dispatch them with alacrity and from a distance so they didn't have time or opportunity to fire off whatever spells or wards they were capable of in attempt to make good on Liam's threat.

The progenitor of vampires had discovered what information he could from the soldier and made those assessments in hardly half a minute, faster than the brief time it took to bleed him dry.

Alucard finished draining the operative and dropped the corpse unceremoniously onto the roof of the vehicle that housed some of his comrades, who were still shooting at the currently mostly-incorporeal vampire to no effect.

'These soldiers are not Iscariot's brightest recruits ever,' the progenitor of vampires thought in mordant disgust.

Alucard reloaded his Cassul and dispatched the remaining operatives. As tempting as such a profusion of blood was, liters upon liters just waiting to be drank, these operatives were all part of the same team. They wouldn't have any further official information than the human Alucard had just drained. He didn't want to waste time with peons such as these when Anderson was still somewhere to be found.

'Where the devil is the Church's dog?' Alucard wondered.

Dozens of eyes opened within the shadows and their gazes flicked around the garage, confirming there were no operatives hiding, no Anderson on his way from the first floor. The garage was a desolate scene of carnage with no priest coming to stop the sire of vampires from slaughtering his men.

Alucard let out a small growl of irritation. 'Did Anderson use another means of leaving the Archdiocese with his men and is already on his way to the seer?'

Alucard dismissed the thought. Anderson could use magic to travel, but he couldn't bring others along for the ride. If he did leave by way of the main building, Seras and Walter would spot him and alert Alucard. And the god-cursed priest wouldn't pass up a chance of killing the progenitor of vampires any more than Alucard would pass up a chance to return the favor.

Alucard concluded Anderson must be lurking somewhere in the Archdiocese's main building. At least by draining the operative, he knew where the priest's private room was and where he had been seen lounging between meetings with those in charge of Iscariot's current plots. Whatever those plots were meant to ultimately achieve.

The vampire was once more feeling extremely aggravated with the lengths Iscariot was taking to keep their plans a secret, going so far as to keep their own operatives in the dark beyond immediately necessary knowledge, as Iscariot's directors knew that vampires could pry the information out of even the best trained and most loyal operatives through their blood.

"Master!" Seras's worried voice resounded in Alucard's mind as he heard a fifth blast of her Harkonnen sending an explosive round at something that was not the building and apparently failed to find its mark as the resulting explosion was distant. "Iscariot has air support incoming!"

And that was yet another something that the soldiers hadn't been told about… The progenitor of vampires was getting the strong feeling these particular operatives had been intentionally recruited to be cannon fodder, the vanguard to test the Elder's defenses and responses to an attack, before the real attack personally headed by Anderson and his two lackeys was launched. Regardless of Iscariot's original plans of attack, Alucard had brought the fight to their base, so it was just a matter of clearing the entire operation out. Starting with the air support they were sending.

Alucard's many eyed shadowy self flashed its gaze upwards to peer through the roof of the garage as he levitated himself up to lend his servants aid. But following on the heels of Seras' call was the sound of the tunnel's entrance locks releasing behind him.

.

.

.

The American Elders were watching as Alucard and his servants commenced their brutal assault on the Archdiocese. Grudgingly appreciative comments were muttered from a few Elders as they watched the efficiency in which the three-vampire team brought sections of the building crashing down. Those muttered comments became more profuse when they spotted the blur of the male servant, Walter, leaving his master's side and the slaughter of Iscariot's ranks took place in the blink of an eye.

Even Henrick's high-def cameras sending feeds to the monitors in the board room and the footage being replayed in slow motion couldn't keep up with the British vampire. They only could see that the vampire had moved and then the humans were dead, ripped to pieces. There were rumors of the British vampire using some sort of wire to wreak such destruction and, as unlikely as those rumors had sounded, they appeared to be confirmed. Other speculating comments were made in regards to how Alucard and his servants would manage to handle incoming reinforcements being sent to the Archdiocese.

One of the large split-screens was showing the route of half a dozen fighter planes that had taken off from a private airfield and were being tracked via satellite. One of Henrick's fledglings left at Liam's mansion was aiding in monitoring the situation from the safe zone, as even the skilled hacker could only view just so much data at a time, and had alerted her master to the unexpected danger via instant messenger. The planes' courses had originally been directed towards Liam's mansion and the downtown office the Elders were currently gathered in, obviously air support for an attack against the American Elders. The planes had been ordered to divert their attack to a counter assault against Alucard and his servants when they began their siege on the Archdiocese and decimated those within.

While air support on Iscariot's part was unexpected, (and Henrick's junior hacker fledgling, Sienna, was tasked now with discovering exactly how the Catholics had smuggled the planes into the country unnoticed,) the Elders weren't entirely incapable of handling such a development.

Sasha, Aaron and Deirdre were up on the roof of the skyscraper the American Elders were keeping watch from. The three firearms experts were sporting similar weapons to Alucard's female servant to repel an assault from afar should Alucard and his servants fail to eliminate all the planes for them and Iscariot resume their course towards their downtown base. Those guards proficient in such weaponry at the manor were likewise armed and waiting.

Though none of the airplanes had been directed towards Mercedes's, Liam had sent a text message to Davin and Marrick to alert them to the potential aerial danger as he couldn't afford the time to leave the board room for a private phone call. The two guards were to remain in place for the time being, as bringing the two humans under Liam's care to the mansion where air attacks may commence was too dangerous, but were under orders to be prepared for a speedy retreat to the airstrip housing Liam's jet should Iscariot's ground troops descend towards Mercedes's apartment, and keep out an eye for potential pursuit once in the air.

The Elders watched as the first group of three planes, those meant for their own base and had already been en route downtown, came into view first near the Archdiocese.

Alucard's female servant, Seras, fired one of her explosive rounds at a plane, and the round narrowly missed. The wayward round careened through the air and ended up damaging a building none of their cameras had access to viewing. The male servant, Walter, had dashed off down the street from his post and was now climbing up the side of a skyscraper that stood between the Archdiocese and the incoming planes. Alucard himself was nowhere to be seen.

Another quickly reloaded round from Seras missed its target of the closest airplane and blew a hole in another building.

The plane had to veer towards where Walter waited expectantly, however, to avoid the round. The plane lurched as though it had flown into turbulence, jerked towards the vampire abruptly. Just as suddenly, the plane was nose-diving towards the city block below, as though the hand of god itself had plucked the plane from the sky and sent it careening towards hell.

The plane slammed into a tall bank tower diagonally across the street from where Walter was perched, and the resulting devastating explosion littered a wide radius with flaming debris. It also took out one of the cameras on the side of the bank that the American Elders had a tap into, though they still had several other feeds in the area surrounding the Archdiocese.

"That, ladies and gentlemen, is footage Hollywood spends half a budget to get right in movies," Henrick said in sardonic amusement when the video feed cut out after capturing the last moments of the incoming plane and its panicked pilot within. "I'll burn Bluerays or email a file with a collection of the best destructive moments for those who want a copy when all is done."

There were a few laughs at his comment, but all eyes remained on the screens to watch the outcome of the conflict and take note of both sides' tactics.

The other two airplanes made sharp evasive turns up into the air, the pilots obviously not knowing what had happened to the other plane but instinctively maneuvering to get out of the way of whatever had just taken down their comrades. The remaining planes opened machine gun fire in the direction of Alucard's female servant, obviously assuming she was responsible for the other plane's destruction.

Seras dissolved into shadows and the bullets flying through the air failed to find their marks. Both planes were equipped with sidewinder missiles, but the pilots were refraining from utilizing those weapons at the moment to avoid further massive damage to their own garage and buildings surrounding the Archdiocese main building.

Seras, however, seemed to have no such reservations about causing damage. Her shadowy form went darting towards one of the planes. The Elders watched in stunned amazement as their forefather's servant, who was reportedly just under a decade into her undead existence, wrapped herself around the speeding airplane, wrenched it off its course, and then launched it nose over tail through the air at the other airplane that couldn't veer out of the way of the unexpected attack fast enough.

"Eight ball, corner pocket," Henrick quipped half-heartedly as they watched the airplanes collide and both go tumbling to the ground in a spiral of twisted, half-molten metal. The wreckage slammed into yet another building, creating further collateral damage.

"When lil ole incendiary shells don't work, let's just up and toss one plane at the other," Xavier, an Elder with flame-colored hair cropped short along his scalp, commented sarcastically as his pale fingers smoothed out a slightly longer goatee in a gesture borne of habit. "Perhaps we should consider sending our dark forefather's servant a 'Thank You' gift basket of Midol laced blood if she manages to leave any of the city standing after she's done with Iscariot."

"Speaking of our dark forefather," Denissa's smooth authoritative voice cut over all the small side conversations. "Where is Alucard while his servants systematically destroy half of Center City?"


	24. Chapter 24 Opposing Forces Collide

Chapter Twenty-Four

Opposing Forces Collide

As the tunnel's entrance opened, papers covered in script from the bible and magical symbols flew out in a small tornado-like vortex of wind. The papers plastered themselves throughout the second floor of the garage and flew up the ramp towards the first floor, creating a holy barrier that would keep the vampire from being able to escape the garage or other vampires from entering.

Alucard turned back towards the tunnel. His servants would find a way to deal with the aerial attacks. The progenitor of vampires had a more challenging enemy to face now that the priest was finally engaging in the fight.

To his servants, Alucard said telepathically, "Seras, Walter, the priest has finally snuck out of his lair. You'll have to handle the threat on your own until I am finished with the good father. You have my permission to improvise and destroy the enemy in whatever expedient fashion you come up with as this conflict has already become larger than anticipated and has no doubt attracted attention. Discretion is no longer a primary concern."

"Yes, Master," came the replies from Seras and Walter.

Walter added, "Will you need assistance, Master?"

"For the church's dog? I think not," was Alucard's confident reply. "As I said earlier this week, I am putting him down once and for all, before he has a chance to run back to his masters and lick his wounds."

The noise of the hundreds of papers rustling began to taper off as each found its place around the garage and a heavily Scottish accented voice echoed from within the tunnel-

"Prepare, unholy abomination, for the instrument of His divine wrath upon earth cometh forth. You shall find no escape except in final death, when I deliver up your mortal remains unto His most holy altar and your damned soul unto its just placement within Hell."

"Anderson…" Alucard's voice held an immeasurable amount of sanguine anticipation as he slowly drawled the name.

The vampire reformed himself into a corporeal human form and found that the priest's wards were keeping him from likewise manifesting the ocular-filled shadows into his hounds. Hardly surprised, as it wasn't the first time the Catholic priest had managed to block his ability to fully summon familiars, the vampire snapped new clips into both guns as he continued to speak to his most irksome and persistent enemy.

"I was just wondering when you would join the slaughter. Your yapping pups had the bad manners of running away and dying when your masters ordered them to heel and fight. Has Iscariot stopped taking the time to properly train their dogs? Or am I putting your kind down too fast to find suitable replacements and any inbred mutt is being recruited to join the Church's ranks? You Catholics always have had low standards in who you charge your absentee god's mission to be upheld by, but this is becoming pathetic for even you."

"Foul, undead monster," Anderson said in disgust as his looming frame emerged from the shadows of the tunnel, bayonets glinting in the overhead lighting of the garage. The priest held the bayonets in the symbol of the cross and the magical inscriptions on the hilts flashed faintly with a blue light. "You underestimate and mock our divinely appointed order and spill the blood of the Lord's servants for the last time. Their sacrifices will not be in vain for I will crush your cursed bones to dust and salt the earth with your remains."

"You've sung this tired song far too many times, Judas Priest," Alucard said in a bored tone, though his blood-thirsty grin grew. "Would you care to sing a song of why your masters are targeting humans and their children in this sweep-and-clean of yours? Or shall your blood need do the talking as your flunkies only told part of the story?"

"His divine message shall be delivered this day unto all monsters whom have partaken of your unholy sacrament and pollute this city, and unto those heathens who knowingly fell from the Lord, our God's, grace and consort with the devils hidden in the form of man," Anderson said without pity. "This once great city shall be purified of all threats to the Lord and the righteous shall once more reign with uncontestable dominion in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost."

"I doubt that equally tired song you tyrants have been chanting for the last 2,000 years is the entire reasoning behind of this maneuver of yours," Alucard replied, unimpressed with the priest's vague, sanctimonious answer. "Pray that your dancing skills have at least found new inspiration or the only place that shall be purified is the ground you stand on when I spill your life's blood and tear the truth of your masters' plots from your veins."

"You have yet to end my existence despite your best efforts, you goddamned spawn of Satan," Anderson retorted with a smirk of his own as his bright green eyes narrowed on his enemy. "The righteous shall always prevail against the wicked. Today, the blessed light of dawn heralds the end of your dark reign. I promise you, abomination, that you, those damned monsters like you, and all impure souls who have betrayed the Lord, will not live to see another night fall. All that you have wrought in your bloody path shall be undone and brought before His last judgment."

The priest began to slowly walk forward with measured steps, his crucifix swaying from where it dangled around his throat.

"Do not make promises you are incapable of keeping, Dog of the Church," Alucard said, hellfire burning brighter in his eyes. The vampire leveled both guns in the direction of the advancing paladin, "Unless you again flee like the cowardly mutt you've continually proven yourself to be, I will send you to your god once and for all. It would be embarrassing for you to have to confess to your creator that your last words before being put down were lies."

And before Anderson could make another reply or approach close enough to attack, Alucard's guns shifted their aim away from the priest. Bullets flew and light after light on the second level of the garage were destroyed, glass raining down on the underground parking lot that was plunged into darkness as black as pitch.

The door to the tunnel slammed shut behind Anderson with a loud bang, forced closed by the vampire's telekinesis and cutting off an easy retreat to the enchantment protected tunnel and main building. If Anderson used his holy magic to escape up the ramp and out the first floor entrance, it would necessitate breaking his own wards to do so and give the vampire an escape as well.

Alucard's mocking voice echoed from the darkness around the priest, who had halted his steps and stood at a wary defense:

"I do believe the Church's dog is just as trapped as the vampire now. Let us see how well you can dance in the dark, Judas Priest, and discover which of us shall be consigned to permanent darkness."

Anderson's gaze darted futilely around, searching for the vampire who had shifted back to his shadow state. Rapid-fire blasts could be heard and he barely turned in time to parry away the high caliber bullets with his bayonets.

Manic, mocking laughter echoed from all around. "You're getting sloppy, Judas Priest. Is your age finally catching up to you? Is your Holy power waning after all this time? That is the problem with the light: it always fades in time."

"Filthy monster!" the priest yelled back. "How dare you mock that which you turned your back on when you are too scared to face me in combat and resort to tricks?"

More shots were fired from above, and Anderson had to twist at a nearly unnatural angle to parry those.

"I told you, dog, I am tired of this game and have decided to put you down," Alucard's voice echoed out again, filled with utter loathing. "You've squandered your right for a chance to fight back."

A third volley of shots came from an upward angle and behind the priest, as though being fired the ground. Anderson tried to parry those as well, but his blind efforts were a shade too slow and one of the massive bullets from the Jackal tore through his chest, just an inch from his heart. The priest dropped to the ground from the force of the shot with a yell of pain.

Alucard reformed into his human shape, glaring down at the priest with increasing disdain.

Something was off with Anderson. He might not be able to see in the pitch black, but he should have been quicker on the mark because he was strong enough with his Holy magic that he could sense out dark energy and should have known a rough idea of where the vampire was. And even when Alucard had managed to riddle him with multiple bullets, Anderson never made so much as a hiss of repressed pain. He'd often laugh. Nor had he dropped like a puppet whose string had been cut.

Then the scent of the blood reached the Vampire King's nose.

It was human, but it wasn't Anderson. There was a slightly stronger tang to it, and instead of carrying a hint of holy magic, it had a trace of dark energy to it.

The man bleeding out in front of him was not Anderson; only a very convincing doppleganger of some kind that even smelled like him until something (such as his blood) was separated from the rest of him and reverted back to its original state.

Just as Alucard was reaching that swift conclusion and wondering what the fuck was the meaning of this, he heard metal scraping on metal, and then metal screeching, from behind.

The progenitor of vampires had time to register the tunnel door being forced open by a set of bayonets, which would have required immense strength, and realize that the wards were still up and keeping him from seeing or hearing with his unnatural senses just what lie beyond the doors, and then a flurry of bayonets were racing at him.

Alucard's human form shattered into a flock of bats to avoid the blades and then the swarm let out furious screeches. The returning echoes, which weren't stopped by the ward, allowed him to sense the form of Anderson and another just over the threshold.

The Judas Priest had apparently sent in a decoy and had been lying in wait for him to take the bait.

Well now, that just wouldn't do.

The bats had to swerve and dart to avoid another round of bayonets. Then they made a second round of screeches, which confirmed the two inside the tunnel were staying in approximately the same spots, apparently confident they had the upper hand behind their ward.

More bayonets came flying at the bats, and they swerved and wheeled in various directions to avoid impalement. Their ability to sense out the incoming blades, however, was thrown off by a loud crash nearby that caused the entire garage to rattle. Small pieces of the ceiling cracked and broke loose, some of the broken light fixtures falling as well, and the vibrations disrupted the bats' sonar senses.

Alucard had to shift from the bats back to a human form, wondering what the hell his servants were doing with those planes. That almost sounded like they had crashed one nearly on top of them.

He'd have to deal with that after.

For now, he fired a volley of bullets at Anderson and whatever new recruit he had with him in the tunnel.

"Bloody hell!" an unfamiliar male voice yelled in pain.

And with that yell, it became apparent that the ward protecting the archdiocese had become damaged somehow. Especially because a young man with shaggy brown hair and dressed in priest robes, laying on the ground and holding his hands against the gunshot wound that had grazed his ribs, was simultaneously exposed to the vampire's sight. Alucard wasn't sure if the plane crash had caused the damage to the ward, or if it was the man getting shot.

Anderson was standing by his side, but when he saw the vampire's gaze pin on him, he realized his magical cover was gone. The priest charged the vampire with a yell, bayonets poised for attack.

Alucard surged forward to meet the attack, but a glimpse of metal flashing from his right caught his attention and he shifted back into shadows to avoid a pair of bayonets to the back, launched by the Anderson-double. Alucard's shadow self soared over a dozen feet in the air and turned towards the fake priest; and saw the figure had collapsed back to the ground after making a last ditch attack to help the real Anderson. The figure also no longer looked like Anderson, but a smaller statured man in his later thirties with close-cropped silvery-grey hair and beard who just so happened to be wearing Anderson's clothes. Apparently he couldn't hold the deception in place when so grievously injured.

Anderson was moving defensively between the imposter and the vampire, emerald gaze searching the darkness for the slightest hint of his enemy.

"Ya all right, Jones?" Anderson asked without looking at the man.

"Might be, father…" the man gasped out. "Not sure… That's a… big fucking hole. And I think… blessed silver. Don't know, if I can heal this…"

"Stay there and rest then," Anderson ordered. "Alucard, ya filthy beast! Come out and face me proper and we'll see who's the better dancer!"

"What? No more decoys to send at me, dog of the church?" Alucard asked furiously, reforming twenty feet away from Anderson with his guns leveled on the priest. "No more lackeys to sacrifice to try wearing me down? Now it's worth your time to fight me? I'm insulted that you thought such a trick would keep me fooled or that they would be able to cause me any harm."

"Eh, he fooled you well enough until you injured him, devil spawn," Anderson said with a smirk. "You'd be dead by now if the ward had kept ya from closing the door like it was supposed to. Plan didn't work as intended, so I suppose resorting to the usual tactics will have to suffice to send you back to hell, and then I can move on to the rest of the filth corrupting this city."

"Is that so?" Alucard asked with narrowed eyes. "Well, that'd require making it past me and out of here, and I have no intention of allowing you that option."

"Aye, I noticed you're seeming a bit ruffled," Anderson said in a tone that was almost conversational, but his malicious smirk remained. "What's got you in such a twist, monster? You almost seem to be taking this fight personal, coming stateside and straight at us like this. Is it possible you got some servants here we were at risk of killing? Some new project of yours we might be uncovering?"

Alucard snorted back a mocking laugh. "Hardly. I came here for the same reason I always show when I catch wind you tyrants are plotting something- to rain on your parade and cancel your fun. It just so happens that I find the routine to be losing its entertainment value and have decided to permanently end things. The more of your plots for this city that I head off before I send you back to your creator, the greater your disgrace when you face your judgment."

"I'll be facing Judgment someday, I'm sure," Anderson said dismissively. "But that day isn't today."

Alucard's fingers tightened on the triggers of his gun, but the shots that rang out through the garage weren't issued by his weapons. From the tunnel came multiple volleys of bullets that hurtled through the progenitor of vampire's back and out his chest before he could react.

Alucard's eyes widened in pain as he stumbled forward from the still incoming rain of bullets slamming into him from behind. He could feel the all too familiar fiery sensation flare from each of the wounds. Blessed Silver. And it fucking hurt, even for him, even if it wouldn't keep him down permanently.

The progenitor of vampires felt his human form give out, and he was falling to the ground nervelessly.

'I hate this part,' Alucard thought to himself. 'And I can't afford the time for a dramatic regeneration.' He turned his attention outward and touched his servants' minds. "Police Girl, Walter, Anderson may be coming out of the garage, and he has a magic user lackey who can shapeshift to look like him. Make sure you have the right one and stop him."

And then the Vampire King was turning his consciousness inward as his human form lost all functionality, his awareness shifting to that ethereal void he housed. He grasped ahold of one of the souls bound to him and he began the process of consuming it, trying to absorb it as quickly as possible so he could utilize its essence to reform physically and return fire on Anderson and his flunkies before they could make their escape.

The soul was consumed, utterly removed from existence and any chance of making it to the afterlife, within ten seconds by the progenitor of vampires. Alucard returned his consciousness to the outside world around him and saw with his psychic sight that Anderson had a contingent of operatives waiting in the tunnel; they'd apparently been lurking behind the bend, just out of sight. The operative that had been immediately with Anderson in the tunnel was limping towards his mutilated form, which was dissolving into shadows even now and would be a fresh body in just a few seconds.

The young priest was concentrating on the shadows and making swift gestures, though, and a red eldritch glow began to form around the demonic shadows.

Fucking hell, he recognized that energy.

Alucard willed his body to reform quicker, but found that his energy refused to obey the order. He remained a surging mass of shadows and blood-red energy within the glowing crimson sphere. They had bound him with a similar enchantment to what they had on the building or the seer used.

The progenitor of vampires threw his energy at the boundaries of the sphere in an outright fury, and felt the magic tremble beneath his assault.

Scratch that, the Seer's wards were a hell of a lot stronger, and he had the practice of ripping his way out of her wards to aid him with this one. He'd rip his way out of this little bubble in ten seconds at this rate, and then every one of these little fucks were going straight to hell with Anderson for trying to imprison him.

'I really' he thought as he slammed into the energy, 'fucking', slam, 'hate', slam, crackle of magic faltering, 'humans and', slam and another crackle, 'their stupid', slam and sizzle of failing magic now, 'magic traps'.

"Woah, he's fighting it, Father Anderson," the shaggy haired brunette was saying at the same time, voice a little shaky as he made more gestures, causing the flickering energy to flare brighter with renewed vigor, tiny symbols beginning to form in the bubble.

"It was expected he would, Bobby. The question is- 'Can ya keep him contained?'" Anderson asked as he watched the struggle between the two.

"Uh, yeah, pretty sure, if I don't let up prematurely," the young priest said uncertainly.

Dark chuckles issued from within the shadows as the Vampire King surged against the renewed ward and caused it to ripple and crackle again. The priest, Bobby, gasped in surprise and held out his other hand to let a stream of magic issue out and reinforce the binding.

"Your boy is over-confident, Anderson," Alucard's mordant voice echoed out as baleful eyes opened in the shadows. "He might be able to keep me contained a little longer if he remains to continually reinforce the ward, but his energy is pathetic and will exhaust soon enough. Then the prideful little punk will join the other countless, worthless souls I've harvested. He will. Your foolish little double will. Those operatives who shot me in the back like the spineless cowards they are." To their mutters, he gave a sanguine chuckle. "Oh, yes, little catholic pups, I see you there, and you too will be quenching my hunger soon enough. And finally, yourself, Judas Priest. Your new recruits are no match for my powers, even with all your deceptions and ploys, and you are all going to be reaped and devoured."

"Shut up, ya beast," Anderson snapped out crossly. "Even if you escape, ya'll be as unlikely to sink your fangs into him as me, and I'll destroy you with my own blades before you can have any other as a meal. Now, Bobby, can ya keep him contained?" he asked that again, eyeing the younger priest who was starting to have a sheen of sweat appear on his face.

"I think so." Bobby sent more energy at the binding ward as he fought against the vampire's attempts to escape, trying to finish the runic sphere. Almost as soon as he got one section formed though, Alucard was dismantling it, causing him to make miniscule, if any, progress.

"Are you sure?" Anderson asked doubtfully.

"Just go, Father," Bobby said dismissively, though he still sounded far from confident. "He's full of shite. It's going to take a while, but the ward is working like it's supposed to. I'll be able to hold him here once it's fully constructed."

More chuckles came from the writhing, surging shadows. "You're wagering your very soul on a rigged bet, little priest. You don't have the power or knowledge, nor the experience, to finish this binding and make it hold. Long before you were even a lusty thought in your father's twisted little mind, I swore that I'd never be imprisoned again and have continually increased my power throughout my existence. You cannot contain me, and I will collect my winnings when I am free."

"Father, go," Bobby said more insistently, a drop of sweat formed on his brow and trailing down his face.

Anderson glanced between the two, taking stock of the situation, then stoically nodded. His emerald gaze went to the other operative, who had dragged himself to the nearest car and used it to pull himself standing. "Jones, ya mobile?"

Jones nodded, then gasped out, "I can move… not so well, but…"

Anderson gave a curt nod and gestured to the other operatives in the tunnel. "That's good enough for now. Get your arses moving, lads! We still have our mission to carry out and I want this city cleansed within the hour!"

The soldiers, about thirty of them, filed out of the tunnel. They gave Bobby and the vampire he was still magically wrestling with a wide berth, and made for the cars on the second level that hadn't been damaged by Alucard yet. One offered support to Jones and he accepted the help into one of the working cars.

Once all were piled into five vehicles, Anderson pulled out a cell phone and pressed his thumb to the scanner on the screen as he said to Bobby, "Go with God, my son, and bring His Divine Judgment to all those sinners who fall within your wake."

"Go with God, Father," the younger priest said with a small nod, gaze remaining on his work.

Anderson glanced at the active screen and hit send on the readied message. As soon as the message was confirmed as being sent, he turned the phone off and slid it into his pocket while he made for the vehicle housing the team he'd be traveling with.

Alucard's attention had briefly shifted to the operatives filing into the vehicles.

Two of the vehicles had been loaded with operatives he recognized.

Not from previous encounters, but from the seer's vision. And Anderson and his doppleganger were with them.

The seer's vision had been accurate, after all. The attack she saw had been a part of the second wave of this operation. Likely, if Alucard had to guess, the doppleganger was who she had actually seen in her vision, which was why other operatives had been sent. He may look like Anderson and be able to wield a few of Anderson's bayonets, but he wasn't nearly Anderson's level and would need the aid if something had gone wrong.

All Alucard's intervention had done was take the pawn out of the game, and now her vision was about to come true with the far more deadly and real Anderson in the operative's place.

And he was temporarily trapped in this enchantment, unable to stop her and her son's murders from taking place.

Alucard tried to mentally shout another warning to Seras and Walter, but found that he could not extend his metaphysical senses outside the enchanted prison. His blazing gaze went back to the priest who was keeping him captive, who had used his fleeting preoccupation to continue weaving his enchantment. He now had a bit more work to undo.

"Keep up your chants as best as you can, little priest," Alucard warned with bloodlust growing. "I have no need to breathe, or even speak, to work against your magic, and my reserves are beyond your mortal comprehension. I'll be feasting on your life blood soon enough and then you'll be locked in one of the deepest pits of hell, doomed to be my personal minion until such time as I decide to devour your soul, with the knowledge you brought the fate on yourself for aiding Anderson in committing his sins in a false campaign in your absentee god's name."

And with that, the Vampire king slammed his energy against the wards with renewed fury, dark tendrils wrapping themselves around the eldritch sigils as fast as he could direct them.

The young priest gasped in surprise, feeling the vicious ethereal reverberations through his magic connecting him to the wards. "Even should you break free, abomination, and kill me, I will have still achieved my purpose here today. The greater good we serve shall be furthered by my potential sacrifice, our work shall be carried out this morning thanks to what I have managed to accomplish against you."

Bobby continued his chants, trying to restore the work he was quickly losing ground on, but it was clear to the both of them that the original vampire was not issuing an idle boast and his efforts would ultimately be futile. Still, he had been charged with holding the vampire in the ward for as long as possible, even if it was a long shot that he could finish the seal and make it permanent. The longer the progenitor of vampires was kept out of the fight, he had been told, the more thorough of a job they could do of eradicating his hellspawn and their allies. That was a holy directive worth obeying, and so, if need be, he'd fight to complete that mission until the vampire broke free and ended his life.

.

.

.

Seras and Walter were telepathically conferring, after taking out the two planes, what their next targets should be while their Master was engaged with Anderson, without compromising his order to keep an eye out for the priest's potential escape. They knew that warning would have only been given if their Master had run into some sort of problem with the magic-wielding priest, and apparently a new sidekick of his.

Before they could get far in their hasty brain storming conference, however, they were facing complications of their own. Two vans with blacked out windows came speeding up the only clear section of road in the vicinity of their impromptu war zone. Vans that had no license plates or other identifying features. They came to a screeching halt near the still blazing garage.

As Seras swiveled her Harkonnen around to take out the majority of this new threat, Iscariot operatives began pouring out of the van, using the doors for cover and weapons trained on her and Walter from their rooftop vantages. A storm of silver bullets from automatic weapons came flying up at both vampires, causing Seras to dissolve into shadows and Walter to have to use his unparalleled speed to dart away and avoid being hit. Once the first wave of soldiers had emptied their clips and needed to reload, they ducked down and the remaining soldiers in the cars began shooting, providing cover fire.

Seras's shadow-self darted back to her Harkonnen, she didn't need to fully manifest to shoot the loaded round; only to see a flash of metal in sunlight heading straight for her, coming from inside the heavily damaged Archdiocese building, causing her to instinctively dart away. A second later, Seras realized her miscalculation. Two large explosive rounds slammed not into where she was about to be positioned, but her Harkonnen itself. To her extreme surprise, the rounds were effective, punching with uncanny precision through the loading chamber and the triggering mechanism, before promptly exploding from the impact and warping the most delicate pieces on the otherwise nearly unbreakable assault weapon, effectually disabling her most prized weapon.

Seras only knew of one member of Iscariot that could shoot like that.

Heinkel Wolfe.

Their intelligence hadn't shown Wolfe entering the country, nor the Archdiocese. Which was clearly a huge oversight on their part, given their small operation's somewhat limited monitoring capabilities.

"Walter!" Seras called out telepathically to her partner, trying to rapidly recalculate some form of counterattack. It had been so very long since she hadn't had her Harkonnen at her disposal that she felt almost like a part of her had just been amputated.

"I saw what happened, Miss Seras," Walter said calmly. "It can be replaced when we return to England. You still have your handgun, and innate vampiric abilities. Make use of them as best as you can."

Seras saw a blur of movement, proceeding a glint of wire, and then the Iscariot operatives outside the vehicles were torn to shreds, along with pieces of the doors they were hiding behind cut clean through

'Right,' Seras thought to herself. 'Not like I can't do anything without the big gun. I'll be fine.' Seras' hellfire gaze started scanning the windows that the shot could have come from, trusting Walter to handle the lesser operatives while she handled Wolfe. Unfortunately, she couldn't find sign of the sharpshooter anywhere, nor anyone else peeping out the windows. Wolfe must have retreated once she had accomplished her goal.

Seras did, however, notice something as she solidified and pulled her gun, a smaller version of her master's Cassul, from her belt. "Walter?"

"Yes, Miss Seras?"

"I think that magic bubble ward Iscariot had up is now down! I can't see even a faint shimmer of it anymore!"

Before Walter could reply to that observation, the remaining operatives in the cars were retreating to the middle of the vehicles and the drivers revved the engines to attempt a getaway.

They had barely moved twenty feet, though, before Walter's wires had sliced clean through the tires, including the wheel mounts.

Unfortunately, that short distance was enough to allow the cars racing out from the garage enough room to barrel out onto the street. Blacked out windows came down on the side facing Walter and a flurry of bullets exited four of the cars, and a barrage of bayonets from the middle car. At the same moment, shots were again fired from within the archdiocese building, directly at Seras, causing her to have to once again shift into shadow form to avoid being hit.

Seras avoided being shot. However, having been telepathically communicating with Walter just seconds before, she still had a mental link to him and felt a flare of distinctive pain from his end of the connection.

"Walter! Are you alright?!" Seras asked frantically, gaze searching for the other vampire.

"I'm quite fine, Miss Seras," Walter replied, calm as ever and mental voice revealing none of his pain. "Only a minor wound from a bayonet. The rest missed me."

"At least we know which car Anderson is in," Seras said, shadowy form beginning to dart after the cars.

"We have another problem, however," Walter said, likewise giving chase by leaping from building to building to keep up with the convoy.

"What now?!"

"There's another round of airplanes incoming."

The shadow form of Seras rippled with inhuman growls. "Are you kidding me?!"

"I'm afraid not, Miss Seras. From the sound of their rate of approach, I'd say we have less than thirty seconds before they're in sight by their human standards, and therefore able to take aim. I suspect the moment I stop moving, or you manifest in the slightest, we will be under fire again."

"What do you think we should do?" Seras asked her more experienced counterpart.

"Without your Harkonnen, you'll be harder pressed to take down airplanes. Stay on the cars, try to take out Anderson's in particular so as to force him to resort to traveling by foot, and I'll see about stopping the planes."

"Sounds like a plan," Seras said, though now a sliver of fear was working its way into her mind. Facing off with Anderson was always Master's job. She had the unwelcome memory of having once been run through by many of his bayonets to haunt her; along with the knowledge that if the paladin had chosen not to toy with her, those bayonet's would have gone through her heart and brain and ended her unlife. That first encounter had been nearly ten years ago, she was a much stronger vampire now, but she was still not of a level with her master, who had still yet to take out Anderson.

"You'll be fine, Miss Seras," Walter said, picking up on her thoughts. "Keep your training in mind, remember you face dangers on a regular basis with your missions with the Geese, and you'll survive until myself or our master can provide backup against Anderson. We only need you to slow him down, keep him from his target."

"Yes, Walter," Seras said, doing her best to drum up confidence. "I'll do you both proud!"

"I'm certain you will." Walter darted back the way they had come to intercept the airplanes closing in on them.

Seras turned her attention to the cavalcade of vehicles she was tailing, which were weaving in and out of each other as they sped along back roads, avoiding the highway and incoming emergency vehicles on the main roads. Seras was keeping track of the vehicles as best as she could as they swerved amongst each other, fairly certain she knew which contained Anderson- the second one in the line now. As her shadow form dipped down toward that SUV, however, her supernatural hearing picked up Anderson's voice coming from the car behind her target.

Seras paused her descent. Had she lost track of where Anderson's car was in the line? 'Wait!' Seras thought in consternation. 'Master said Anderson had a shapeshifting magic person who could look like him! Can he sound like Anderson too?! Or use his bayonets?! Which one is the real Anderson?!"

As the speeding vehicles came to an intersection, the first two vehicles blew straight through, the second two swerved with a screech of tires to the right, and the last continued going straight as well.

The Andersons were split up, and she had a split second to decide which to try taking out.

Seras decided that the fake Anderson would likely travel with a larger crew, given the real Anderson's capability to be a one man wrecking show and not needing any help, and darted after the pair of cars down the right hand road.

As she hurried to catch up to the cars that had split off from the main convoy, her hand manifested in the shadows, holding her gun. She landed on the roof of the back car, just above the driver; forcing her energy and supernatural strength against it to crush it in nearly a foot, far more than her diminutive weight would have been able to naturally cause. As the car swerved, the driver dead from the impact and subsequent head-crushing, Seras's gun unloaded into the back tires of Anderson's car.

And to her extreme displeasure, Seras discovered that the SUV was a higher-end armored vehicle, complete with tires that were reinforced with an insulating material inside the rubber to keep them from drastically deflating should they be punctured.

So much for the ruptured tire and wipe-out plan. And she wasn't Walter with his wires, able to simply take the tires clean off. But the added security reinforced her guess that she had the right vehicle because Anderson was always Iscariot's top priority for being kept secure and able to escape the scene of an incident.

As much as she didn't want to get any closer to Anderson than necessary, Seras leapt from the out of control car she was on top of, just seconds before it went careening into a residential house on the side of the road. She shifted into her shadow state and went flying after the paladin as fast as she could force herself. When she reached the car, her shadow form wrapped around the vehicle and she lifted it clear from the road, then sent it launching end over end.

The vehicle landed with an unforgiving crash against the pavement, causing even the reinforced metal to bow inward a few inches from the force of impact. The noise made as the roof scraped along several dozen yards of cement, like a thousand metal nails dragging down a chalkboard, was enough to making Seras's undead ears ring. She darted after the wreck despite that, gun trained on the vehicle and waiting for the first glimpse of Anderson exiting so she could riddle him with a full clip of bullets.

The SUV finally came to a halt, but no one exited the vehicle.

'There's no way a car accident took out Anderson,' Seras thought, suspicious, as she hovered a short distance away. 'He's preparing some sort of counter-attack. He must be.'

Sure enough, a few seconds later, Seras heard chanting coming from inside the vehicle…

Except, that wasn't Anderson's voice doing the chanting.

'The shapeshifter!'

A blast of dark magic came from within the vehicle, sending Seras' psychic senses momentarily reeling as she tried to make sense of what was happening.

Whatever was meant to happen, it didn't cause harm to the vampire. There were pulses of magic, of glowing energy, and then the energy disappeared entirely.

Wary, but wanting to know the state of the occupants, Seras stretched out her senses, activating her psychic sight. She turned it to the vehicle.

The operatives were all gone. Vanished without a trace.

Which meant she couldn't even drain them to discover what route the other vehicles had taken.

"Are you kidding me?!" Seras screamed out loud, shifting back to her human form and glaring with absolute fury at the abandoned vehicle. "What the hell?!" She was fairly certain she now knew her master's fury when Anderson used magic as a means of escape from conflict.

"Oh no!" Seras screeched with that thought, anger draining away as fast as it had flooded in. "Anderson! He must be on his way to the seer's! What do I do now?!"

She had a rough idea of where the seer's apartment was, in relation to how to get there from the archdiocese if something went wrong. However, she was not the least familiar with this city and its layout, and she had been so concentrated on chasing the vehicles that she wasn't sure the exact direction she needed to go in now.

Seras did the only thing she could immediately think to do- She let loose her psychic sight, directing it to the direction she last saw the other cars going in, trying to locate the vehicles.

After almost a minute of searching, pushing her still growing powers to search further and further out, Seras found one of the cars.

Only one.

By itself.

The cars had apparently split off again. And she didn't know if this one contained Anderson. Seras directed her sight to focus inside the vehicle, but found herself repelled by some sort of ward.

Was that Anderson's vehicle? Or was that something all the cars had?

She couldn't afford any more mistakes, precious minutes were ticking by, drawing Anderson ever closer to destroying Ms. Mercedes and her son.

Seras pushed her senses out further, trying to find another of the vehicles, as she began to speed in shadow form in towards the first car. After another minute or so, she located another of the SUVs Iscariot was using, going in a different direction entirely from the first. When she tried to direct her sight towards the interior, again she was being blocked.

So it could be either vehicle, or the third, which she had yet to locate.

'Which do I follow?!' Seras thought, feeling more and more frantic. "Walter!" she called out telepathically, not knowing what else to do.

"I'm a little preoccupied, Miss Seras," Walter replied after a few seconds.

"I have a very big problem!"

"What is it now?"

"The cars split off into two groups, with an Anderson in each. I thought the smaller group would have the real Anderson in it because he didn't really need reinforcements, but it turns out I chose wrong in following them and it was the fake. I am trying to track the other group, but they have split off in three directions, I've only found two so far, and I don't know which has Anderson in it because those bloody wards are shielding them from psychic sight!"

"Blast…" Walter cursed in frustration. "They certainly are making our jobs more difficult this time."

"What do I do?!"

"Which is heading in the general direction of the seer's apartment?"

"I- I don't know?!" Seras just about wailed in frustration. "I don't know this damn city and I've gotten a bit turned around while chasing the wrong convoy!"

"Fly up high where you can see the city skyline. Locate a couple buildings you recognize in Center City and orientate yourself from there. Once you know which way the seer's apartment is, you'll know which seems to be heading there, and therefore which your target is."

"Oh!" Seras exclaimed in relief. "Why didn't I think of that?"

"I'm sure their tactics were discouraging enough to make it seem impossible, as they hoped, but you can sort this out. Now, I must place my attention on these planes and the gunners within, Miss Seras. Dawn has begun to break, if you haven't noticed yet, and we need to bring this engagement to an end as soon as we can or we'll be fighting in a compromised state."

"Of course! I'm sorry, Walter!"

"Don't fret over it. Concentrate on your target." And with that, Walter broke the connection from his end.

'Right! I can do this with that point of reference to help!' Seras told herself, zipping as fast as she could straight up. She wheeled around, trying to locate the tall buildings in Center City that would allow her to orient herself as Walter suggested.

She spotted the general center of the city, along with two airplanes off to one side of the downtown area. That must be where Walter was. And as Walter had noted, the sky was turning shades of reds, oranges, pinks and azure as the sun started to edge over the horizon and its rays began to fall upon the chaos still reigning in the city.

As Seras tried to pick out buildings she recognized, she saw a gargantuan plume of smoke rising from the opposite side of Center City from where Walter was fending off the planes. Smoke, dust, and some sort of debris that was rocketing out from what appeared to be the site of an explosion among the skyscrapers.

"What in the world is that?!" Seras cried out, shocked. As far as she could figure, their fight was nowhere near that part of the city. And whatever was happening over there, the force of the explosion was quickly blanketing that part of the city in its fallout, obscuring her view of the buildings.

Seras concentrated on the parts of the city not yet affected, and spotted much thinner, but still distinct, lines of smoke coming from one area. That must have been where they had their first engagement and taken down the planes. Those would be the fires from the crashes.

'Okay, so if that's the archdiocese… There's that big communication tower…' Seras thought, scanning the skyline. 'So I need to go…'

Dread hit Seras like a brick made of ice. "Oh no! No! Nonononono!"

The seer's apartment was in the exact opposite direction she had been going in!

Some of these vehicles must have been heading to a different target, or were simply intentionally trying to lead her off the wrong way. Either way, she'd wager the last car she hadn't located had doubled back around, as soon as it had lost her, to make its way to the seer's home. That would undoubtedly be the car housing Anderson.

And they had a several minute head start on her. Which was more than enough time for Anderson to slaughter Miss Mercedes and her little boy if she couldn't catch up. Glancing at the rising sun again, Seras would wager they'd be arriving just after dawn had fully broke.

'Okay, okay. Don't panic,' Seras thought to herself as she darted as fast as she could in the right direction. Despite her admonitions, she was definitely panicking and couldn't stop at the moment. Every bit of their plan was falling apart and there was seemingly nothing they could do to stop the seer's vision from coming true. 'I just need to forget about tailing Anderson's car for the moment. I _know_ where he's going. I just need to beat him there. If I can get there first, I can intercept him before he reaches the humans.

'Oh god, please, let me reach them in time. Please, please, please. I don't know if you'll listen to a vampire's prayers, and I know I don't have any right to pray to you at all, what with being undead and all. But she's supposed to be a minister and a genuinely good person, even if she's not a Christian one, and her little boy is an innocent child. Don't let Anderson kill them! Let me reach them first! Please! Don't let this happen like Anderson intends! Please! If you have any mercy in you at all, don't let them die!'

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A/N: Sorry for the delay, real life got rather hectic the last few weeks. Thanks to RiverStyx for the review, which reminded me I needed to update. Hope everyone enjoys this chapter. Anyone curious as to what that massive pillar of smoke was? And just who is going to make it there first? Stay tuned and find out the answer to one of those questions next chapter.


	25. Chapter 25 High Priestess Hierophant PT2

A/N: I'm very, truly sorry for going so long without updating. I have been going crazy with making preparations for one of my sister's weddings, which is taking place this weekend, among many things that have been going on. This chapter was the one that needed a major overhaul before it could be published. I'm still not happy with it, but I realize how much time has passed and I feel guilty for making people wait for an update. If people hate it badly enough, I'll likely come back and rewrite it when things are quieter.

To make up for it, and the time lapse, I'm posting two more chapters to show my remorse.

Read and review, I'd love to see some feedback when I get back from ceremonial craziness to inspire me to keep working on this project, as I've also been having a massive writer's block this last month or so.

Have a great week folks, I'll be posting a new chapter NEXT Friday, as I won't be back home til next Wednesday.

Chapter Twenty-Five

The High Priestess and The Hierophant, Part Two

Mercedes was sitting in her living room, drinking her second cup of coffee in tense vigil for dawn to fully rise and signal that she and her son had another day reprieve from death coming for them. She had been able to sleep, finally, but her dreams had been haunted by her vision. Such restless sleep signaled that the vision had yet to be averted, causing the seer to feel only marginally restored by the rest she had gotten. Coffee was helping to force her mind to wakefulness, but it was only a temporary measure and she knew it.

Still, there was little else she could do now, except to drink her coffee and wait and pray. Wait for dawn, wait for Anderson, and wait for the outcome of that confrontation. Pray that her measures to protect her son would prove enough, pray she could survive the fight. Pray that if she failed, her son would somehow survive. Pray that if she died, she'd find her way to the part of the afterlife that Tukiko san and Fumiko resided in and finally be reunited with the family she had lost to the same entities that would have now killed her.

Mercedes' fingers clutched the stone-colored ceramic coffee mug emblazoned with a snarling wolf along its side. Despite the need to listen for danger, she knew her hounds would hear Anderson and his operatives coming long before she could, so she had her iPod playing music to keep her mind alert and motivated towards the goal of survival. "Winterborn", by the band Crṻxshadows, had just started playing through her headphones.

Xander was ensconced in the bedroom, as safe as she could make him. He had woken up twenty minutes ago and she had given him a glass of milk she had waiting for him, laced with a distillation of potent herbs that knocked him back out.

Mercedes had felt guilty for drugging her son, but if Anderson and his men showed up, she didn't want him waking to the fight taking place and possibly having to consciously experience being murdered in his own bed. She knew it wouldn't be enough to harm him and prayed, as she tucked him back into bed with his stuffed dragon and left him to Artemis' watch, that it would prove enough to keep him asleep long enough for the fight to be resolved one way or other. Wards to block sound and psychic senses were placed around his bed, hopefully strong enough to help keep the sounds and magic fight from waking him from his drugged slumber.

Mercedes was taking a long sip of her coffee, mentally following along the words of the song and trying to psyche herself up, when she saw Athene's head suddenly lift sharply, golden gaze intent on the wall facing the street.

The seer turned down the music, listening for what caught the hell hound's attention. She could hear a car running outside the apartment, and a man issuing orders for others to move.

Fear shot through Mercedes, nearly causing her to drop her mug, because she recognized that distinct accent from earlier in the week.

Anderson had finally arrived.

Mercedes let out a shaky breath as she slowly set her coffee mug on the side table. Athene was issuing a nearly-inaudible growl, eyes narrowed, as she lifted herself into a crouched position. The priestess mentally said a brief prayer that the hounds would follow the plan and survive, keeping out of the way of the paladin's blessed blades and picking off the lesser operatives before they could get into her apartment.

She heard unnatural growls reverberate outside her apartment. Then screams and gun fire came from the men outside as Hades and Cerberus began their first round of guerrilla warfare style attacks on the lesser operatives. She kept low in case the hounds accidentally drew fire towards the building, rather than away as they had planned.

As she heard Anderson issuing orders for the surviving team members to get moving, ignore the hounds, they were on a time schedule; Mercedes pulled her ear buds from her ears carefully wound up the cord and set it aside with the iPod.

She closed her eyes, taking another deep breath. She tried to beat back her fear and remind herself of the little boy in the next room who needed her to protect him from what was coming for them.

A flash of memory came to her, of Alucard's deadly serious visage as he said, " _If they enter, you don't issue fair warnings… The intent to kill had better be first and only in your mind. There is no place for civilities and weaknesses… especially not against Iscariot's dogs._ "

Though she hated such seemingly callous mindsets, Mercedes knew the progenitor of vampires was right when it came to Iscariot. She couldn't let herself feel anything but the desire to survive now.

She took yet another measured breath to steady herself, following her training with Tukiko and focusing on all the emotions she needed to fuel her for this fight. Righteous anger towards the murderous bastards outside who wanted to try to ambush them in their sleep. Protective fury on behalf of her son, who was just a child and whose life was now in danger because of these zealots. Pure and utter vengeance on behalf of those two family members that Iscariot had destroyed because they were beings that the organization didn't understand. Those were beneficial emotions right now, ones that steeled her nerves and helped summon up the energy she needed to fight, and so she focused on them as she waited for an opening to vent them properly.

The gun fire ceased for a few moments, signaling the remaining operatives following Anderson's order. Mercedes lifted herself to a standing position, opening her eyes and giving a final cursory check to make sure all her weapons were securely in place and the wards were as she had left them. Not that there was anything she could do if something had somehow gone wrong now.

Mercedes heard the building's outer door's glass shatter. Another round of shouting and gun fire ensued, the hounds having undoubtedly reappeared within the shadows of the second floor stairway and launching themselves once more at the operatives in the entry hall.

She removed her katana from its sheath with a faintly trembling hand, transferred it to her left hand, and then pulled her favorite and most familiar knife from its sheath and held it in her right hand, balanced and waiting.

The gun fire ceased and she could only hear pained moans and screams, and the all too familiar voice of Anderson cursing out her hounds and herself.

The screeching sound of metal slashing through metal heralded Anderson cutting through the middle door's metal frame to gain access to the hallway that all the apartment doors were connected to.

The middle door could be heard slamming open, and heavy footsteps trodding to her apartment door, each step punctuated by furious oaths from the priest.

Mercedes took another shaky breath, fingers adjusting their grip on the bumpy surface of the Coldsteel blade, as Athena simultaneously adjusted her stance in preparation for Anderson's arrival.

At the same time, another door opened down the hall, followed by a masculine yell that was abruptly cut off as Anderson undoubtedly slew the neighbor who had made the mistake of coming out to see what was causing all the noise.

One of Anderson's bayonets made an appearance first; deftly thrust between the narrow crack between her door and the frame, then slashing down to sunder the bolts on the locks.

The door was shoved open, and Mercedes found herself facing the instrument of her potential destruction.

Anderson's cold emerald gaze barely acknowledged the hell hound in the living room before it locked onto the waiting pagan priestess. For a long few moments, they seemed frozen in time, staring one another down.

As she summoned up more of her energy in preparation to fight, Mercedes gave a tiny bow of her head, saying as steadily as she could manage and without taking her eyes from the priest, "Good morning, Father Anderson."

Anderson's eyes narrowed and he stepped into the apartment, saying "Of all the ways I expected…"  
Whatever Anderson expected, Mercedes would not find out in that moment. As soon as the Christian priest entered the boundaries of her wards, a blinding flash of carmine light ignited from the sigil-emblazoned square of leather above the doorway, and from the other identical markers around the house.

As Anderson raised a hand to try countering the magic, the lights shot out from their sigils and converged on the priest, bathing him in bloody eldritch light. Anderson's hand gave a spasm, clutching tighter onto his readied bayonet, as he hunched his shoulders down in pain, a litany of hurried counter-prayers rushing from the priest's lips.

Another flash of memory of the progenitor of vampires came to Mercedes as she hesitated to attack while the results of her hastily crafted magic were unknown. " _Don't hold anything back... Especially so with Anderson… Hit several more times and make sure you're not in the path for a return strike just because you think he's down._ "

Following Alucard's advice, Mercedes let loose her dagger with practiced aim while the priest was trying, in seeming vain, to counter the magic pulsing within his body and working its will from within him.

Anderson saw the flash of metal hurled towards him and jerked straight. His stiffened arms moved a shade too slow to knock the dagger aside. It sailed just above his forearm and cleanly embedded its six inch tanto-tipped blade in the fleshy space just under the priest's right collar bone, missing its initial target of his neck because he had straightened out.

Anderson let out a snarl of pain as he yanked the lengthy knife out, emerald gaze back on the priestess, who had drawn another dagger from her belt.

He was fast enough in reacting to knock that flying projectile aside with his bayonet. As Mercedes reached for the third knife tucked into her belt, Anderson briefly glanced down to his injured chest, eyes crinkled in confusion.

"Your holy magic won't help you here, Father," Mercedes said, feeling a small thrill of tentative triumph as she likewise noted that the injury wasn't healing.

"What did your cursed magic do, you whore of the damned?!" Anderson asked, voice trembling with rage.

"No less than you would have done to me, if we were on your home turf," Mercedes said, expression and tone freezing over as the slur was thrown at her.

"Now, Athene!" the priestess commanded as she hurled the next blade at the priest, trying to keep as much distance as she could between the two of them. Even if she had managed to temporarily disrupt his connection to his source of holy power, in a similar way to how wards were constructed to disrupt a vampire's connection to unholy power, she knew he was still at the advantage in a fight through sheer strength and experience in battle.

As Anderson parried the blade aimed for his chest, he reached inside his jacket with his free hand. His emerald eyes widened marginally as the hellhound closed the distance. "Bloody pagan whore!" he cursed, quickly bringing his blade, which no longer glowed with eldritch blue sigils, down to try to slash at the hound, his other hand coming away empty from his jacket.

Athene shifted to shadows, dodging the blow, and rematerialized a moment later, teeth clamping down on the priest's leg.

Cerberus materialized in the hallway outside the apartment, and Hades within the entry hall behind his mate. As Anderson made another swing for Athene, Hades launched himself over his mate and sank his teeth in the priest's arm, throwing off his aim. Cerberus was only a few seconds behind in reacting, launching himself for Anderson's neck with a ferocious growl.

Anderson heard the movement and growl behind him and, with some difficulty as he fought with the smaller hounds, bent forward at the waist to avoid the attack from behind. Cerberus sailed over the priest, through the length of the entry hall, into the bathroom, and, by the sound of tearing shower curtains, slammed into the bathtub.

"Bloody beasts!" Anderson shouted with increasing rage, finally managing to throw Hades off his arm and into the living room.

As Hades scrabbled to catch himself, Mercedes used the opening to throw her fourth dagger at Anderson and keep him distracted from Athene, who was still mauling his leg.

Anderson parried that dagger with a snarl, this time sending it back at the seer.

Mercedes' instincts and fight training were barely enough to dodge the returned blade. She felt a heated sting across her bicep as the razor-sharp edge grazed her. The knife found a more permanent lodging in the window frame behind her, sinking in to its hilt.

As Hades once again launched himself at Anderson, Mercedes pulled her next to last knife from her belt.

Anderson slashed at the incoming hellhound with his bayonet, and this time the blade struck true. Hades fell to the ground with a whimper of pain, opened across the stomach from shoulder to back leg. Mercedes had to stifle a cry of fear, reminding herself that he should, theoretically, survive the blow because of the blessing she bestowed on them the day before.

As the hellhound shifted to shadows to avoid another slash of Anderson's bayonets, Mercedes launched another knife at the paladin. He went to reverse his swing, but was a millisecond too slow and ended up with the knife sinking into his forearm.

As the enchantress was pulling her last knife from her belt, Anderson ripped the knife from his arm and sent it launching back at her.

Mercedes was prepared for another return of her own blades this time, and managed to drop to the floor to avoid it.

At that same moment, Cerberus leapt from the bathroom at the paladin. Anderson tried to slash at the massive hound, but Cerberus was agile for all his bulk and shifted enough to avoid the swing and clamped his powerful jaws around the paladin's wrist.

As Anderson let out a pained yell, Mercedes hurled her last throwing knife at him with every bit of strength she could muster, using a small burst of her pseudo-telekinesis to help propel it.

Anderson heard the displacement of air as the dagger raced for him, but hampered as he was by the two hell hounds, he couldn't dodge the incoming blade without tripping himself up. He was already switching his blade to his off hand, however, and managed to swing it up just in time to knock the knife away.

Mercedes switched the katana to her primary hand as Hades materialized back into the room beside her, healed of his injuries. The weight of the blade, the curvature of the hilt, both were a fraction awkward in her grasp when compared to her favored katana. However, this blade- while steel, not silver- bore freshly-etched, ruddy stained, runes down the length of it, and hopefully would prove more valuable to her in this fight.

Anderson observed the hound's uninjured form for a split second, even as he stabbed his bayonet down to spear Cerberus' neck. The blade slid neatly through the hound's neck, causing Cerberus to reactively clamp down harder on his opponent.

Mercedes couldn't hold back a sympathetic gasp as two powerful wrenches from the paladin caused his blade to slice straight through the front of the hound's thickly muscled neck, forcing Cerberus to release his hold.

Cerberus retreated to his shadow form as another swing descended, intent on decapitating the hound.

As Hades launched himself at Anderson again, Athene gave a sudden jerk at the paladin's leg, upsetting his balance.

Combined with the weight of Hades slamming into his chest, Anderson went tumbling on his back. Hades made a lunge for his throat, to which Anderson blocked with his already injured arm.

As Hades tore into the arm blocking him from his target, Anderson proceeded to pummel the hound's head with the pommel of his bayonet, using a terrifying speed that nearly caused his hand to appear blurred.

Hades snarled with pain and tried to continue his assault, but inevitably lost his grip on the blood-slick arm.

The instant that happened, Anderson flipped the hound into the hallway, and Hades slammed into the door of the neighbor directly across the hall.

Outside, the screech of car wheels could be heard.

Not wasting a moment, Anderson hoisted himself to a sitting position, rolled as best as he could to be clear of the doorway, and slammed the apartment door shut so the hound couldn't attack him from behind.

That done, he reversed his hold on his bayonet and stabbed Athene through the neck. A single wrench was enough to slash through her throat. Athene had no choice but to dematerialize to avoid the next blow and give herself a chance to regenerate.

Hades reappeared by his mistress to protect her.

At that unfortunate moment, however, Mercedes heard what sounded like further Iscariot operatives shouting to each other outside. Her suspicion was clearly correct because Anderson let out a bloodthirsty grin.

"You're out of time, disciple of Satan," Anderson said. He shook off the majority of dripping blood from his dominant hand, and the priestess could see with consternation that his wounds were already slowly starting to close, and then transferred his bayonet to it. "You may be able to keep me from retrieving more blades, and may have suppressed the enchantment on this one, and you may have done something to your damned beasts to keep my blades from doing permanent damage, but I only need one standard blade to finish you and you can't keep me from healing completely. That's genetics, not magic. The magic just speeds things up a bit. And now reinforcements are here."

Anderson's gaze briefly darted to one side of the living room, where Cerberus had finally rematerialized. A cruel partial smile twisted his lips as he met Mercedes' gaze again and asked, "So what's it going to be, heathen? Face me one on one while your beasts fend off the reinforcements and kill more good soldiers of God? Or keep them here to delay me a bit, but watch them get riddled with bullets and then you get overrun? Either way, you're going to be delivered unto hell's gates in the next minute."

Mercedes took a deep breath, assessing the amount of magic at her disposal as she made a plan. She said to her faithful hounds as she adjusted her stance and grip on her weapon, "Cerberus, Hades, attack the operatives outside. Keep them from entering at all costs."

Without hesitation, the two hounds longest in her service disappeared from the room.

"Just you and me, Anderson," Mercedes said with grim determination. "And you forgot the third option. Which is I truly pull out all the magical stops and end your disgraceful existence once and for all."

Anderson threw back his head with a laugh that could have rivaled Alucard's for maniacal creepiness. It only lasted a few seconds, before tapering off and the paladin leveled his gaze once more on the seer. "And what is a wee little heathen like you going to do to me, that your demonic minions couldn't? Hm?" Anderson raised his bayonet, preparing to attack. "'Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.' You should have stayed in Sunday School little lost soul."

"I much prefer the Aramaic version," Mercedes said, stalling for enough time as she summoned up yet more of her magic in preparation for her attack. It answered her call, rushing up into her with a force akin to a tidal wave, causing the hairs on her neck and arms to stand on end as the soothing, familiar energy filled her. "'Disgrace is before ruin and pride of spirit before misfortune.' And you, Father Anderson, should reflect on that, because you have disgraced your calling with the violence you bring about, and you are so filled with hate, and pride for that hate, that you can't see the accusations you hurl at myself mirror your own sins."

Before Anderson could respond, indigo light exploded out from the pagan priestess, slamming into him. The force of the blast pinned him to the apartment door, and she closed the distance in its wake.

As Anderson struggled to break free of the pseudo-telekinetic barrier, not dissimilar from the usage that had forced Alucard's hand from her throat at the beginning of the week in the alley, Mercedes turned her katana so the flat of the blade was parallel to the floor and stabbed into his chest.

Even with her skills honed as they were, his robes covered his physique enough to miscalculate the aim a fraction, and instead of driving into his heart, her blade impacted with a rib.

Anderson let out a pained laugh, a discordant counterpoint to the gunshots outside the apartment and agonized screams beginning to issue from his subordinates. Still struggling against her magic, he wheezed out, "Can't even stab a pinned man proper, can ya? That's okay. Another few seconds, and I'll give you a demonstration on how it's done."

"Not giving you that chance, Father," Mercedes said through gritted teeth, wrenching her blade free.

She noticed as the blade came free that the very smallest bit of tip of the slanted point was chipped off, likely lodged in the bone. That would have never happened with Tukiko's blade. But at least the runes weren't damaged.

She pushed more magic at the priest to keep him pinned.

Adjusting her aim, she made another stab with her katana. This time, the blade slide between the protective bones and pierced the priest's heart.

Anderson let out a gasp that sounded one part pained and two parts surprised.

Mercedes twisted the blade back and forth as much as she could with the ribs caging the blade, pushing energy into the blade and letting it flare out through the runes, trying to inflict as much damage as she could to the regenerator.

As she did so, she also pushed more magic against him to keep him pinned and said, looking up to meet his gaze, "I want you to know, before you die, that despite the fact that you've already killed family of mine in your hateful crusade, I had honored their memory by living by the teachings of peace they had instilled in me and had no war with the church. When you decided to involve my son and I in your madness, you forced my hand and made me your adversary." She gave the blade another twist, continuing speaking as the priest tried to hold back a pained grunt, "And though I will feel some guilt for killing you and ordering the deaths of your men, I will lose very little sleep for it because I know Tukiko and Fumiko will understand that you brought this fate on yourselves and I only acted in self-defense."

The pagan priestess jerked her blade free with a few pulls, causing a sickening squelch to be heard as it pulled free.

Blood spilled out from the mortal wound in Anderson's chest. Mercedes leveled her blade on him, saying in conclusion, "That is the difference between you, false messenger of god, and myself, a true seer and speaker of Divine Will. I follow all of the divine's universal teachings, from all the faiths that acknowledge the higher power, to the best of my ability; first and foremost the teachings of loving even one's enemies and learning to forgive even the worst of crimes. But I will not, and cannot, allow you to kill my son or myself because you have lost that way and actively seek the destruction of any who contradict your narrow views."

As Mercedes shifted to plunge the blade through Anderson's eye and into his brain, instincts and intuition, heightened by her surging magic, coursed through her and forced her to drop to the ground.

Glass shattered and plaster exploded in the wall next to her, as the crack of a gun could be heard.

Glancing to the decimated window as husky female screams outside could be heard, the seer realized one of the operatives had evaded her hounds long enough to take a shot at her from outside. She didn't have a chance to wonder if they had heat sensing equipment, or took a wild shot at her silhouette seen through the blinds.

The momentary shock and distraction was enough to break her concentration on keeping Anderson pinned, and the regenerator was now free and bearing down on her.

Mercedes had to roll away to avoid a stab of his bayonet. If it wasn't for the fact that Anderson was severely injured, as evidenced by the still bleeding wound in his chest and heavily labored breathing, she'd have never dodged one of his attacks.

And even as she rolled away from another stab, she could see through his torn robes that the wound was slowly closing.

Mercedes deflected the next stab with a blast of magic, rolled to her knees and thrust up, piercing him through the stomach.

Anderson returned the favor by backhanding her across the face with his free hand as he tried to wrestle his blade free of the indigo energy.

Mercedes felt as though she had been hit by a sledgehammer and was thrown a few feet. She slammed into the wall facing the street and let out a pained gasp, feeling a sharp pain flare out from her already injured ribs. She also lost her grip on her katana, leaving it lodged in Anderson.

The paladin pulled the sword out with a grunt, flipped it in his hand to get a better grip, and glared down at the seer as she blinked against momentarily fuzzy vision and rose to her feet.

"False messenger am I?" Anderson asked with a hint of amusement, though his voice was still ragged from the multiple injuries working on healing. "Well then, heretic… Start praying to your so called 'divine' for salvation… We'll see if it can stop God's decree of… 'Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live', from being followed."

And with that, Anderson made a sweeping arc with his bayonet to take the seer's head off.

Mercedes flicked her wrists, pulling the straps attached to her fingers. She caught the blades that released from their harnesses and slammed one, then the second, against the flat of the descending blade to avoid being shattered by the force of the incoming blade, and to try pushing its path away from her.

The pseudo-telekinetic barrier she could create was wrapped around the blades to increase the force they exerted and Anderson's blade was knocked successfully and safely to one side. The enchantress ducked beneath his arm and retreated towards her kitchen.

As Anderson swiftly turned to face her, the priestess said with a mocking smirk, though her voice was a little weaker as she struggled for a full breath, "Perhaps you are the one that should go back to Sunday School, Father Anderson… You got that translation all wrong."

"Is that so?" Anderson asked, shifting his stance to attack, but hesitating for a moment.

Likely to allow himself more time to heal, rather than any desire to hear her out, Mercedes thought. But that was fine by her because it gave her time to formulate a new attack plan.

"It's not 'witch' in that passage, but _mĕkaššēpâ_ _,_ _which translates in Septuagint as_ _pharmakos_ _," Mercedes said with saccharine tones, drawing in another wave of magic into herself. The magic answered the call, but not as strongly as before. Even with all her training, her human body could only handle just so much dark magic in such a brief period of time. "Which, for your simple educated mind, is translated, debatably, as pharmacist, herbalist, or druggist. Apparently some of your bible's writers had a problem with anyone of any intellectual pursuit that might contradict their faith-teachings. No wonder there's so many fucked up extremist factions of Christianity in this world. The rules your false teachings lay out breed ignorance and contradict themselves every other scripture, allowing psychopaths to cherry pick what suits them moment to moment. And while I am both a witch and an herbalist…"_

 _She gave a small smirk then, dropping to a one kneed crouch, which Anderson's gaze followed._

 _Silently, one of the kitchen drawers off to the side opened with a small prod of indigo energy. "…I have worn many career hats, and pursued many hobbies necessary to survival or art, in my life. Here's an introduction to one of my favorites: cooking."_

 _Anderson blinked in confusion to that last part, blade dropping ever so slightly as he stared at her._

 _A moment later, a flurry of 31 kitchen knives from the drawer and the knife block on the counter, along with the double bladed scissor-knife, glowing with indigo light, were flying over the crouched priestess and at the priest._

 _Anderson moved swiftly back, swinging his bayonet and the stolen katana to try knocking the storm of knives away from himself._

 _Several made it through his blades though, and he ended up with one lodged in his right arm, two in his left arm, one in his chest, and one in his right thigh._

Anderson grunted in pain as he took another couple steps back across the small living room and came into contact with the edge of the couch.

Mercedes rose from her crouch, watching Anderson warily and concentrating on her breathing to keep it steady. She was maintaining her confidence and vengeful thoughts for the time being to fuel her fighting, but she was beginning to wonder just how many fucking holes she had to put in the paladin before he'd be considered too injured to continue fighting and make a retreat. Didn't his regeneration eventually have some sort of limit and he'd need some rest? Especially if it was genetic and not magic? Just how beefed up had the church managed to make him that he could keep coming for her after taking a direct stab to the heart?! Did the whole thing need to get ripped out to stop working?

Anderson, for his part, kept his bayonet raised defensively and his eyes on his opponent. He tossed her sword on the couch behind him, in favor of removing the blades currently skewering him.

That, however, proved to be a mistake.

Mercedes shifted her gaze and dropped the knife in her dominant hand. Indigo light flashed from behind Anderson. A moment later, the sword was reappearing in her hand. She shifted her position to a fencing stance, holding her katana upright and having the wrist dagger at the ready for parrying.

"Fancy a few more holes, Father Anderson? Or are you willing to call it a morning and go running back to your church?"

Anderson momentarily ignored the taunt, choosing to pull the last two blades out of himself. When the priest was done, he kept four of the blades clenched between the fingers of his off hand. Straightening out his stance, Anderson's emerald eyes met the seer's golden gaze. He said with a marked absence of amusement, voice almost back to normal, "If that was all that it took to kill me, child, I would be long since dead. I am the purifying hand of the one true God. And, unfortunately for you, I have other places to cleanse before the day is out and have run out of patience with your little games."

Anderson flicked his wrist and one of the blades he had acquired went flying at the opposing priestess.

Mercedes deflected it enough with a small blast of slowly-dwindling magic that, instead of impaling her below the navel, it was diverted to the side. The swift moving blade made a moderate slice just above her hip. That damage may have been largely averted; however, because she was concentrating on doing so, she was unable to similarly deflect the second he sent flying at her. She twisted to one side to try avoiding it, but proved too slow. A hiss of pain escaped her as the butcher knife sliced across her thigh before embedding into the refrigerator behind her.

The third, smaller knife he likewise sent speeding her way was safely deflected with a more forceful blast of magic a mere second before it found a lodging in her abdomen; the seer hadn't glanced at the second wound because she had realized it was her turn to be on the receiving end of a volley of blades.

"Red is a lovely and appropriate color on ya, little heretic," Anderson said with a chuckle as he watched blood begin to flow down her hip and leg, matching the small trickle issuing forth from her arm. "Perhaps I may have time, after all, to paint you in it before I leave."

Mercedes' eyes narrowed at the taunt, gaze darting around the living room now. "Thank you, Father, but I much prefer the color green, I believe… Brings out the gold in my eyes better."

Anderson noticed her gaze briefly settle on the shards of glass from her obliterated window, and before she could fully concentrate on flinging them at him with her magic, he sent the last knife flying straight for the center of her chest.

Mercedes saw the priest move to fling the last knife, but couldn't summon her magic fast enough to redirect it, nor would she be able to move out of the way fully. Sheer instinct and martial training caused her to move her off-arm in the way, and a fraction of a second later it was impaled by the knife. A scream of pain escaped her, hand giving a spasm and dropping her parrying knife, not expecting it to hurt as much as it did.

Before the knife had even hit the ground, Anderson was moving in to finish the job. He raised his bayonet in a mocking salute, lips twisted in a cruel smirk. The seer shifted her weight, back against the refrigerator, lifting her katana to attempt to parry his next strike as she kept her injured arm close to her chest.

Anderson shook his head with a tut. "Still raising your sword to fight, are you?" He gave a sharp flick of his bayonet, splattering her face and chest with his own blood that had spilled from his arm and eventually onto the blade "That's no way to act when I've done you the kindness of one last sacrament for the damned, though even that won't save your soul from Hell."

The seer spit in Anderson's direction, the mass of her saliva and his blood falling too short to hit him. "Go fuck yourself with that sword, Anderson!" Mercedes yelled furiously, losing her composure. "I'll fight you to my last breath if it keeps you from my son!"

"Then take a deep breath, heathen, cuz that last breath is upon you," Anderson said, still grinning, as his sword raised up to strike.

As the sword thrust forward, in the short distance between the two, Athene appeared in a cloud of shadow. The blade thrust through the hound's chest as it swiftly became corporeal. Instead of turning into shadows once more to avoid further damage, Athene snarled with pain but stayed in her physical form and let herself fall to the ground with a twist of her body. Tendrils of shadow wrapped around the blade to further ensnare it and dragged the sword from Anderson's hand.

Anderson grunted with annoyance to the interruption and reached for the hilt of his blade. He saw a flash of metal from the corner of his eye, and his off-hand darted up, grabbing her by the wrist before her blade could strike him. A sharp squeeze on the proper muscles forced her grip to loosen and he quickly jerked her blade free as she gave another gasp of pain.

Reversing his grip on the blade he stabbed down and put a new blade through the hound's chest, driving the rune-inscribed tip through the hound's heart.

"Athene! No!" the seer screamed as the hound gave a high-pitched whimper of pain.

Anderson wasted no time twisting the blade, then pulled it free. As he turned to toss the katana back into the living room, out of sight of the pagan priestess because he had noticed she needed to know where her targets were to utilize her powers, she darted for his bayonet, which he had meant to retrieve momentarily. He swiftly tossed the katana as he turned back, grabbed her by the knot of hair at the back of her head and whipped her away from her hound, just as she was about to wrap her hand around the hilt of his sword. As she slammed into the wall, he ignored the cuts his fingers sustained from whatever blades she had held in her hair, instead pulling his bayonet out from the hound, who had still not returned to incorporeal form.

Gaze sweeping over the whimpering demonic dog, then his blood-slicked blade, he smirked. "Well now, isn't that something? Might have blocked my holy magic from escaping me, but some of it still resides within my blood as His divine messenger."

The priest turned his gaze to Mercedes, who was struggling to regain her feet as she blinked back another wave of dizziness from the newest slam and slow but steady loss of blood that she couldn't regenerate.

Anderson asked, still smirking and holding his bayonet aloft to show her the bloodied blade. "Do you think that's why the infernal mutt has finally taken a blow she can't heal or escape from?" Not waiting for an answer, he turned back to the hell hound and kicked her over onto her back.

Athene tried to bite at his foot, and received a kick to the face for her efforts. Her gold-hued eyes darted in Mercedes' direction as Anderson's foot came down on her neck to pin her in place, and she gave a pained whimper and snuffle. Not one asking for aid, though it could easily be mistaken for that. No, it was a sound attempting to give comfort to her mistress.

Tears that had already begun to well up from pain and terror for her hound began to fall, the pagan priestess realizing that Anderson was correct in that his blood was counteracting the enchantment she had cast to protect her hounds, but that he was wrong about the last part.

Athene could have escaped to heal herself.

She was choosing not to, to buy her mistress time to regain her feet and hopefully survive.

Anderson crouched down, gaze disdainful on the demon dog. "Pathetic minion of the devil," he said with a shake of his head. "Ya won't be interfering again." His lifted his hand and curled his fingers, poised over her chest.

As his hand descended, clearly meaning to tear the hound's heart out with his bare hand, Mercedes turned away from the gristly scene and limped across the living room, heading for her katana. She was halfway there as she heard an agonized keening from Athene, a sickening squelch and splattering, then silence from her hound as a wet thump from something small being dropped onto her kitchen tiles.

"That was a strong monster, I'll give ya that," Anderson's voice rumbled from the kitchen as Mercedes retrieved her sword again. "Most die with a few swipes of a blade and I heal their bites almost instantaneously, but that actually needed its heart removed. Not seen any like that in ages, except the Beast's. He rarely allows his to become corporeal, though, and I've never had trouble healing from his."

Mercedes turned back to her kitchen, injured arm still cradled to her chest, katana poised in front of her.

Anderson came around the separating wall as she was raising the sword, and laughed in clear amusement to her continued defiance.

"Her name," Mercedes hissed out furiously as shadows began to appear behind Anderson, "was Athene, not 'Monster'. And now you've awakened the fury of her mate, Hades."

Anderson spun around to face the growing energy, and a pair of snarling teeth lunged for his throat. The paladin ducked beneath the teeth and caught a set of massive claws raking deeply down his back. He slashed into the shadows with his blood-covered blade and a snarl of pain came from the shadows with enough force to make the air ripple and remaining windows tremble in their frames.

At the same time, Mercedes felt a familiar, darker, and far more powerful source of energy speeding towards her.


	26. Chapter 26 Second Collision

A/N: As per a few requests, translations found at end of chapter.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Second Collision

 _Anderson came around the separating wall as she was raising the sword, and laughed in clear amusement to her continued defiance._

 _"_ _Her name," Mercedes hissed out furiously as shadows began to appear behind Anderson, "was Athene, not 'Monster'. And now you've awakened the fury of her mate, Hades."_

 _Anderson spun around to face the growing energy, and a pair of snarling teeth lunged for his throat. The paladin ducked beneath the teeth and caught a set of massive claws raking deeply down his back. He slashed into the shadows with his blood-covered blade and a snarl of pain came from the shadows with enough force to make the air ripple and remaining windows tremble in their frames._

 _At the same time, Mercedes felt a familiar, darker, and far more powerful source of energy speeding towards her._

That presence sent its awareness across her mind, and she lowered her mental barriers, thinking in shock: "Alucard?!"

Anderson was taking a vicious bite to his sword arm as claws raked down his torso.

"I'm here for Anderson's demise, not yours or your son's. Do you think that's enough distinction to keep you from attempting to follow through with the oath you made when last I saw you?"

Anderson switched his sword to his free hand and took a swing at the semi-corporeal shadowy mass attacking him. Hades released him, fading to shadows, then was biting into that arm with enraged snarls.

"My oath?" Mercedes asked in weary confusion. "What oath?"

An unamused voice replied, "One should not make an oath and forget it, Seer. Especially when that one is a seer. You swore that if I did not leave your apartment, or if I returned to try to kill you or your son, you'd do everything you could to immobilize me and kill me."

"Oh… That… Sorry, I'm not exactly in the best state right now to think about things that happened a few days ago."

"So I can tell…" The father of vampires said dryly. "As to your oath? I left, and I do not return to cause either of you harm, but our mutual enemy. I'd rather you not needlessly impede that with a compulsion to try killing me, which would aid Anderson."

Mercedes glanced to Hades and Anderson, who were still alternately taking bites or stabs at the other. The hound was becoming more vicious with each passing moment… and more careless as his rage grew.

"I think that's enough of a loophole to bring that oath to an end," Mercedes thought quickly. "Hurry, please. One of my hounds is dead, and I'm about to have to send another away before he gets himself also permanently ended. I have no idea where the last is and I'm injured and bleeding out."

"Stall the priest as long as you can, even if it means losing another hound…"

"But…"

"Your hound's life or yours and your son's, Seer!" Alucard interrupted her horrified protest sharply. "Choose wisely! He knew what he was choosing when he attacked and he is your servant."

Almost as if to punctuate the vampire's words, a meaty thud and pained grunt escaped Anderson as Hades' shadowy form slammed him into the kitchen wall and bit onto his shoulder. She could only watch as Anderson lifted the other arm, blade lifting aloft, to plunge it into the hound's back.

A pained whine echoed out as the blade struck some bit of corporeal matter keeping the paladin pinned. Despite Alucard's admonitions otherwise, Mercedes was still fighting the desire to send her hound away with a few simple wrist movements, sparing him his mate's fate.

"…If you can survive another minute, I'll personally handle Anderson from there. My servants are not long behind me and will give you and the child secondary aid and protection while I deal with the paladin…"

Anderson wrenched his blade free of the semi-corporeal shadows in front of him and then it was slashing at the hound again. Hades' vengeful snarl and lunge forward was cut short as the blade sliced through what comprised his jaw.

Mercedes' hand rose, only to be stopped by the vampire's will exerting on her mind as he spoke.

"Damnit, Seer! You need to keep yourself from acting on compassion until we get there! There's only limited things I can do from a distance. Ignore that, save the hound, and you will both be dead before I can act! Honor his sacrifice as you honored his mate's and fight wisely! One hound's existence is not more important than yours and your son's!"

Mercedes fought against Alucard's control of her body, but couldn't wrestle it back with his consciousness in her mind. "Alucard! Release me!"

Hades' form darted upwards, raking his claws down the arms that Anderson raised to protect his face and chest.

"No! Think clearly, Seer!"

Anderson's lower arm lashed out, knocking the hell hound to one side and pinning it against the refrigerator.

"You may be willing to sacrifice everyone to save yourself, Vlad Draculea, but I'm not!" Mercedes mentally yelled at him, recasting the mental wards on her mind, forcing the vampire out.

Anderson's bayonet stabbed into the hound, pinning the snarling demon to the refrigerator by his throat.

Mercedes hand raised as Anderson's did, fingers moving deftly. Hades disappeared back to his own plane of existence just as Anderson's hand thrust forward. Anderson let out a loud grunt of pain as his hand slammed into the appliance, sinking up to his wrist.

As Anderson wrenched his hand free, Mercedes retreated several steps, steady rivulets of her blood splashing to the floor from her various injuries. She stopped in the hallway, three paces from her son's room. She wondered where the hell Cerberus was, he should have taken care of whatever operatives were outside by now. She could only pray he was safe and on his way.

She heard another screech of metal, undoubtedly Anderson pulling his bayonet from her fridge. She leaned her katana on the wall next to her and pulled the hair stick daggers from the bun they were barely holding together.

She kept them balanced on her palm, tips facing the direction Anderson was coming from. As he came into view, she willed one of them not to fly at him, but to teleport in his way and hopefully avoid deflection. Her energy wrapped around it and it disappeared in the blink of an eye.

Anderson, not sure where to block but seeing the energy wrap around the dagger, moved to one side. He avoided that one, aimed for his heart, but the second one appeared a second later, stabbed through his neck. He grunted in pain and irritation, pulling it free. "Just how many of those bloody blades do you have hidden?"

"Not as many I'd like," Mercedes said truthfully, katana back in hand. She took a deep gulp of air, trying to steady herself as her breathing became more labored. "But hopefully, enough."

"Have to tell you, heathen, your little blades won't be enough to kill me," Anderson said with a straight face. "You're just prolonging your execution."

"Well, at least I can meet the divine with the knowledge I did everything I could to protect myself and my son," Mercedes said resolutely, praying that she could stall the priest long enough for help to arrive. Alucard's presence was drawing ever closer, becoming a nearly oppressive cloud of rage to the empath. "Will you be able to meet the divine with a clear conscience, Anderson? Tell me the truth. Do your sins haunt you at night? Or are you so blind by righteousness that you think yourself free of wrongdoing and you sleep peacefully at night?"

Anderson's eyes narrowed on the pagan. "My state of mind is between God and myself, heathen. And I have the knowledge that I am but the sword of God, His blade that slices through His enemies and defends His children. My actions are in fulfillment of his will. It's your own sins you should be worried over, as you'll be meeting His judgement far sooner than I."

"My only sin has been in being too inexperienced to protect my family when they needed me," Mercedes said. Her sword arm began shaking as fatigue and blood loss continued to sap her strength, despite all her efforts to force herself to remain standing and sword raised. "If I burn for that, I will accept that judgement… But I think the scales will find me otherwise worthy and I'll be spared from hell."

"You sound rather certain of that," Anderson said, emerald gaze evaluating his opponent. A smirk forming as he noted that her energy was fast slipping away and her injuries were taking over. "You know what I think? I think your unholy, misbegotten powers are leaving you and you're at the end of your rope."

"Might be I'm losing my grip on them," Mercedes conceded. "Being sliced up, isn't conducive for long term energy usage. But I've got enough left in me, for one last stand."

Anderson snorted back a laugh. "Well, far be it for me to deny a dying whore her last wish."

As Anderson charged forward, Mercedes felt a force crash into her chest, throwing her into her son's room. She slammed into the wall above her son's bed as the door to the room slammed close. Anderson's significant weight, however, collided with the door as she fell to the bed, bursting the flimsy door open.

As Anderson noted the surprised and snarling hell hound on the bed next to the priestess groaning in pain, wondering at her choice in actions just now, he sensed a different source of dark magic flying directly at him. The magic from Mercedes and her hounds had semi-masked its approach before now, and his preoccupation in attempting to eliminate her had kept him from paying much heed to things outside the apartment. He turned just in time to see a raging mass of shadows materialize through the wall of the bedroom, the barrels of guns pointed at him.

Anderson swiftly twisted back towards the hallway to avoid the initial barrage of bullets that were flying towards him an eye blink later.

The closet, however, was not so lucky and the door exploded into a storm of splinters. An invisible telekinetic barrier kept the shards from reaching the bed and those on it.

Alucard materialized into his physical form between Mercedes and Anderson. "Do you still wish to fight the true monster on your own, Seer?" he asked stoically, gaze on the priest, who was readying himself for yet another charge.

"No, _domn meu,_ " she gasped out, still trying to catch her breath from her latest slam into a wall.

A small smirk formed on his pale face, and his voice rumbled out in a pleased purr, "Then, _draga mea_ , what is your desire?"

Without realizing she was doing a language shift, Mercedes managed to say, " _Sufletul său este a ta_ _…_ _Soare negru_ _…_ _Recolta recompensa pe care este a ta cu binecuvântarea mea._ "

" _La dispoziţia_ _dumneavoastră_ _, draga mea_ ," Alucard said, smirk becoming a blood thirsty grin.

As Anderson charged forward, the Vampire King shifted to shadows and likewise rushed forward to meet him, forcing the priest away from the bedroom and the humans within. Anderson's bayonet slashed through the shadows, but met nothing corporeal enough to cause damage to. The shadow form continued to surge forward, through the length of the living room, slamming them into the wall facing the street.

The plaster and sheetrock were utterly demolished by the force, and the outer brick wall cracked. Off white plaster and sheetrock bits, red brick shards, and grey mortar dust all tumbled down on the dueling forces; Anderson was showered by them, but they passed straight through the shadowy entity that was Alucard.

As Anderson's bayonet slashed down in another vain attempt to cause the vampire injury, it was wrenched from his hand by the shadows.

An unearthly, reverberating laugh echoed from the shadows, and then the shadows formed into the looming figure of Alucard.

Unlike before, however, Alucard was no longer dressed in his usual red and black Victorian suit.

The hand gripping Anderson's throat, and the other holding the bayonet, was clad in an ancient style of spiked gauntlet. He was clad from the neck down in full plate mail, the shining metal darkened with an ebony finish.

His canines appeared longer than usual as he snarled out, voice accented heavily with his native Romanian, "I told you, dog of the church, that your little trap wouldn't hold me long…"

Anderson tried prying the hand around his neck free with one hand, the other taking swings at the vampire's altered face.

Alucard leaned back, easily avoiding the punches, feeling displaced air flow against his mustache and goatee. His grip never lessened on the priest's neck, in fact gripping tighter, metal encased fingers starting to draw blood. "I'm insulted that you think your fists would be enough to kill me," the progenitor said, voice reflecting his disgust. "No matter…" Alucard lifted the priest off his feet, back still pressed against the crumbling brick wall. He leveled the bayonet at Anderson, the movement causing his cape to flare out behind him. "As I said before, this game has lost its amusement for me. It's time I keep my promise of sending you back to your creator."

As Alucard stabbed the bayonet forward, aiming to impale the priest through the ribs and into the heart, Anderson's hands darted forward and wrapped around the blade, momentarily stopping it from piercing his chest.

Alucard let out a frustrated growl, flaming eyes narrowing, and jerked the blade back at an angle with his full strength, slicing the paladin's fingers open to the bone, severing his thumbs entirely from his hands.

Anderson wasted no time, though, and rammed his arms backwards, elbows slamming into the wall behind him. The strength of his blows was enough to break through the already damaged bricks and he wrenched himself backward as hard as he could at the same moment Alucard impaled him through the chest with his own bayonet, just missing his heart because of the sudden movement.

Alucard retained his grip on the priest and the bayonet, but went tumbling out onto the street with Anderson.

The paladin coughed in pain as the sword dug closer to his heart with another wrench by the vampire, but gave a satisfied laugh none the less. "Wrong move, beast."

Before Alucard could wonder too much about if the priest had lost his tenuous grip on his sanity, he felt the blade in his hand begin to sizzle with magic. From his peripheral vision, which was semi-impeded by the curtain of his now waist-length ebony hair, he saw the blade was glowing with its usual eldritch light.

Anderson's hands went into his jacket, and this time they came out with two more bayonets, clutched tightly in an awkward grasp to compensate for the lack of thumbs.

Alucard propelled himself off Anderson before the priest could land a hit, pulling his sword from the sheath at his hip. As Anderson tried to rise to his feet, Alucard swung his sword and shattered both bayonets that Anderson was using as leverage to lift himself up. A swift kick to the face sent Anderson flying up and backwards down the street.

The priest landed on his back on the hood of a car parked on the side of the street. The fall pushed the sword in his chest out a few inches, and Anderson reached up with a groan to finish removing it, muttering, "Too many bloody chest wounds today…"

Alucard was already bearing down on the priest and, coming up alongside the vehicle, grabbed the hilt of the bayonet before the priest could. Without hesitation, he twisted down, driving the blade further into Anderson and through the roof of the vehicle. "Too many, you say?" Alucard asked icily as Anderson again grunted in pain. "Too many? I didn't realize your threshold was so low, Judas Priest. Perhaps the Seer was more effective against you than one would have guessed." He gave another twist of the blade, then released it and took a step back.

Anderson saw the vampire step back and start to raise his sword, clearly meaning to behead him. He pulled a new blade from his jacket and barely had it up in time to parry the descending sword to one side.

Alucard reversed his swing, slashing sideways to cut Anderson's hand off and end the threat of him pulling a new blade from his damned coat. However, mid-swing, he realized that Anderson was using his other hand to wrench free the bayonet pinning him to the car.

Anderson was able to move his sword hand just enough that, instead of losing his hand, the vampire's sword collided with his own, shattering it. As Alucard again reversed his swing, this time to an overhead blow, Anderson managed to get the bayonet pulled out and rolled off the car's hood. He landed on the street in a crouch.

Alucard let out a furious snarl with the interruption and leaped clear over the car. As he landed, he extended enough telepathic force to crack the pavement in a small radius around him and cause Anderson to stumble as he tried to stand straight. Before Anderson could regain his footing on the broken street, Alucard swung his sword and shattered yet another of the priest's blessed blades.

Anderson went to reach for his inner pockets again and Alucard rushed forward with another inhuman snarl, grabbing the priest by his wrists and throwing him with as much force as he could up and across the street.

Anderson not only crashed into the wall of the apartment building being renovated across the street, he went straight through it. Alucard darted after him as a flock of bats, anticipating that Anderson would be trying to make some sort of attack as soon as he landed. Sure enough Anderson had rolled onto his back and had more bayonets in hand. As the swarm of bats flooded through the broken wall, Anderson started launching blades at them. The bats largely avoided the blades and began to tear at the priest with their claws and teeth. Anderson started swiping at those biting him with his blades, landing more than a few hits, despite his lack of thumbs to maneuver the blades into certain angles,

The bats melded into a shadowy mass that wrenched the blades from the priest. Half a heartbeat later, the shadowy mass was once more an armored Alucard, impaling Anderson to the floor through the wrists to keep him from pulling more of his blades.

"Let's see just how many more times you can handle being impaled by your own instruments of destruction, before your wretched existence finally comes to an end," Alucard growled out with his native accent remaining, elongated pearly teeth flashing in the early dawn light. He tossed his head to get his loose hair out of his face, then reached into the priest's pockets, felt handles almost instantly, and pulled out the bayonets. They sizzled against his hands, but the Vampire King ignored that annoyance. "Let's see… We have the classic crucifying impalement of wrists."

As Anderson wrenched at his arms, trying to pull free of the floor, Alucard's lower half turned to shadows and he glided backward and to one side. The shadows wrapped around Anderson's ankles and pulled his kicking legs out, crossing them at the shins so one foot rest above the other and the bottom foot was flush with the floor. A bayonet was swiftly stabbed through both to keep them in place.

"That's four impalements with three instruments…" Alucard taunted the still struggling priest. A flash of steel in the light, a meaty squelch, and the second bayonet was impaling just below Anderson's ribs, stabbing up towards lungs and heart, but skillfully placed to just miss both for the moment. Anderson's struggles momentarily ceased as he groaned in pain. "And now we have the full crucifixion reenacted to keep you in place."

Alucard shifted to looming directly over Anderson once more, hellfire eyes blazing with the rampaging fury that was slipping out of his control. "Are you feeling closer to your absentee God yet, Anderson? I hope so because, while I could make your death take days, maybe even weeks with your regenerative capability, the next bayonets are going through your neck to put an end to your profane utterances, and the other will sever your cock for the vulgar insults you dealt the lady. After that, I'm tearing your shriveled heart from your chest and you will watch me devour it in the last moments it takes for your body to realize that it is dead."

Anderson had gone still when Alucard first started snarling in his face, but now his face twisted into amused understanding. A moment later, the priest threw back his head to let out a sardonic, disbelieving, wheezing laugh. "So that's… what's got… the mighty… Vampire King… in a twist…." The laugh came to a close and Anderson leveled his gaze on Alucard again, who was retrieving more bayonets from his pockets. "Wasn't that we…" he gasped out, "were going after… your plans… or servants… You actually… found yourself… a devil-cursed… whore to claim… as your… Damned Queen… didn't you?"

Alucard let out a reverberating snarl of rage and shifted backwards again, and Anderson found himself with his own bayonet slashing down, severing his cock off in a single blow.

The priest let out a pained yell at that injury, when all others had yet to get more than grunts and groans. Of all the places he had grown accustomed to being injured, that had yet to be one he had had to recover from. And it bloody hurt.

Alucard, unfazed by the noise, slashed the blade deftly and sliced the priest's testicles off as well. Anderson let out another agonized scream, body arching, wrists and feet straining against the blades pinning them to the ground.

Hearing the wooden floor creaking at the assault, Alucard's shadowy lower half shifted so he was standing at Anderson's head, shadows becoming legs once he was vertical. He reached down and took hold of the hilt of the closest blade pinning a wrist, giving it a merciless twist and digging it back into the floor, deeper than before. He repeated the process to the other wrist, then walked silently to Anderson's feet.

Once the bayonet there was likewise planted deeper into the floor, Alucard finally turned his blazing glare back to Anderson, who was trying to keep his jaw clenched shut to avoid any other screams. "Forgive me, Father, for I have just sinned," the progenitor of vampires said dryly. "I spoke a lie when describing the order of your forth coming injuries. I was also falling prey to my biggest sin, wrath, and lost my senses a moment." The armor clad figure slowly paced back up towards Anderson's head, saying as he did so, "You see, despite my warnings about vulgar insults to a lady, I would have sworn I heard you again call her a 'whore'." Alucard crouched down next to Anderson's head, meeting the priest's enraged emerald gaze. "Tell me, Father Anderson, did I hear you correctly? Or have you been unmanned first without just cause?"

"You heard, me right, devil," Anderson spat out, voice ragged and barely understandable.

"I did?" Alucard asked with a raised ebony eyebrow. He gave a small, exaggerated, sigh of relief. "Well then, at least I haven't gone completely insane and I did hear that correctly."

In the blink of an eye, the same blade that had castrated the priest was now impaled in Anderson's neck, having been stabbed with bone-shattering force through esophagus, vocal cords, and spine, embedding into the floor.

"Now then," the Vampire King said, almost thoughtfully, as his enemy's body twitched with shock, "that should keep you from uttering any further unchivalrous words about a lady of rather exemplary character… I would say you can thank me for keeping you from another sin, but clearly…" He gave a dark chuckle as the paladin gurgled impotently in fury and pain. "I suppose it would be poor taste for me to say it. Though, I do wonder, dog of the church…" Alucard leaned over, head cocked to one side, to better meet Anderson's gaze. "Do you curse about her in such fashion because you believe such words are true? Or are they a screen for your true thoughts, Judas Priest? Are you intimidated by the woman? Do you secretly fear that perhaps, just maybe, a 'heathen' woman might be more precious to God than yourself? In some dark part of your wasted heart, do you fear that perhaps, just maybe, a pagan priestess might know secrets of the divine that you could never hope to understand?"

Alucard gave a disgusted snort, straightening back out, as Anderson's body finally stilled its spasms. He shook his head at the paralyzed priest, shaggy hair swaying freely. "Your kind disgusts me, Anderson. And what disgusts me most is this: I used to be no better than you. But, long ago, I met a woman very much alike to Lady Dreux-Brézé. I learned a great deal about the nature of God from her, though most men of my age thought they could only find God through men like you. Despite the bible stating that Christ kept company with more than just his disciples, I was once arrogant enough to think as you do, that only we men knew God's will…"

Alucard made another disgusted noise and brushed a long lock of hair out of his face. "I've learned that even when one believes himself to be his age's champion of God, no man could ever hope to know the will of whatever God there is. We were created to be His physical might, to destroy those unworthy of their existences. We cannot be such forces of destruction and still know the will of ultimate creation. Some women, though, some seem to brush against the essence of whatever divine force there is, being granted gifts of knowledge in return for keeping their spirits aligned to creation. I learned to heed the words of such women, to offer my sword to their causes, and those who may not have such a gift, but have the strength of will to protect that which is theirs as only women can. Women like Her Majesty, Sir Integra, and a few others throughout time… Men like you, though… You, the members of Millennium, Abraham Van Hellsing, Oszkár, Mehmed, Radu… I've seen your kind destroy too many good women because you were threatened by them."

Alucard's hellfire eyes narrowed, then, thoughts flashing to scenes of the past when he had been too late to save those women. Daciana, Anasztázia, Lucy… Thoughts of those, like the priest, that had utterly desecrated and defiled them.

The Vampire King's heavily accented voice came out in guttural growl, "So frankly, Judas Priest, yes, you targeting the lady and her son is what brought me knocking on your front door this morning, though not for the reasons you think. I initially came across the ocean because I discovered Iscariot was amassing and I simply desired ruining whatever operation you were planning. But after meeting the lady, I find that I'm not inclined to allow a woman such as her to be destroyed by an inferior bastard such as yourself, and so my plans changed to include keeping her out of the path of your operation. Your kind calls me 'beast' and 'monster', but there are things that at my darkest I would never do. I had chivalry and honor beaten into me so deeply I could never go against them, even if I uphold them in a way your mortal mind can't comprehend."

Alucard reached forward then and tore the front of Anderson's robes open, exposing his pale and bloodstained chest. It rose erratically, even with his regenerative capabilities the priest was barely alive after the massive trauma dealt repeatedly to him. The progenitor of vampires looked up at Anderson, saying with finality. "I once saw you as a worthy nemesis, Paladin Alexander Anderson. However, you have proven, time and again, that such faith in you was misplaced. This game has finally run its due course, but I will give you a quick death because I don't wish to have your rot festering inside me."

He raised his hand up, fingers pressed together, making almost a spear point.

A glint of metal came rushing at him from the impromptu hole in the wall, on the heels of a gun crack.

Alucard had time to shift his hand to shadows to avoid being shot and turned his head to try locating the source of the bullet. His view was blocked, however, by the form of a black robed, cowl-less nun. The psychopathic nun was also absent her glasses, indicating the personality of Yumie was out. Which was further supported by the fact she had her katana drawn and ready for battle.

And where there was a Yumie, there was always a Heinkel. He had thought the largest hound of the seer's would have been able to keep them busy just a bit longer. Yumie was hardly looking unscathed, however. She had deep claw marks across the right side of her face and was bleeding from multiple gashes on her torso and arms.

As Alucard swiftly rose to his feet, drawing his sword in the same movement, Yumie was already landing from her leap and charging at him with a scream of outrage. "You damned infidel! Get away from Father Anderson!"

Her katana flashed with blue eldritch light as it struck against the larger European sword, sparks flying from the friction of the metals colliding.

Alucard kept his feet planted and shoved forward as hard as he could, throwing Yumie back. She skidded across the unfinished wood floor and then charged at him again, coming in at an angle and moving fast enough to appear blurred to lesser eyes. Alucard could track the movement, though, and as she swung to slice at his midsection, he turned to meet the assault, deflecting the blow away with his own sword.

There was another crack of gun fire as their swords clashed. Half an eye blink later a bullet tore through the vampire's armor and left bicep. Alucard snarled in pain and fury as he felt liquid silver burst out from the wound. He deflected one, two, three slashes from Yumie, and then his left hand let go of his sword and backhanded her across the face.

Yumie let out another screech of rage; the vampire's gauntleted strike having created deeper tears in the wounds the hell hound had inflicted. "You filthy monster!" she screamed as blood flowed more freely down her face and into her eye. "I'll have your heart before this is over!"

As the nun yet again rushed for the progenitor of vampires, he could simultaneously hear two things. The first was the deep, pained shout of Hienkel: " _Verdammtes Tier_! I will kill you yet!" The second was footsteps running up the stairs that led from the floor below.

Alucard parried an increased storm of blows from both katana and sheath, taking a few minor hits in the process that were deflected by his armor. Renewed gunshots could be heard from the street, with more furious cursing in German.

The young priest from before, Bobby, appeared on the landing of the stairs. Alucard noticed from the corner of his eye the arrival of the cowardly punk who had utilized Anderson's preferred mode of escape when the vampire had broken free of the enchanted prison, but he couldn't divert his attention for the moment from the nun's whirlwind of attacks.

With the reemergence of said priest, though, Alucard had new reason to want to bring this fight with the nun to a close as quickly as possible. He swept his sword to one side, knocking Yumie's far from his body. The Vampire King took advantage of her being off balance to drive his knee into her stomach. The cracking of several bones could be heard and she folded in half over his leg, wheezing breathlessly.

Chanting started from one side of the two combatants.

Alucard let out a ferocious snarl. His leg dropped and as Yumie stumbled with a groan of pain, still bent over and now clutching her torso with one arm, he swung his sword to behead her.

Carmine light engulfed him like a second skin, momentarily stilling his movement a hairsbreadth from impact.

Yumie staggered away, straightening her posture as best as she could.

Alucard's energy tore through the weak enchantment the priest placed on him within five seconds. "You wish to try this again?" The enraged vampire snarled at the priest, turning his attention on him. "Came to die with the good father, did you? You needed only ask!" Alucard flipped his sword in his hand in preparation to attack.

"Yumie! No!" Bobby snapped out as the nun likewise made to attack. He pulled out a bible from his robes. "Get Father Anderson free! I can hold him off temporarily."

Yumie let out a frustrated grunt, but a single glance in their mentor's direction was all the deterrent she needed this time. Father Anderson was lying almost as though dead- impaled in multiple places, unmoving, barely breathing. If he was so badly injured, they didn't have a chance against this beast in their collectively weakened states.

As she made her way to Anderson, Alucard was already rushing the young priest. Bobby flipped the book open and pages flew out, forming an enchanted semi-circle between them, surrounding himself.

Alucard let out a wordless yell of fury and slashed at the barrier. Papers stuck to his sword and began to weigh it down as though each weighed dozens of kilograms.

"Damnable punk!" the Vampire King snarled, making the sword disappear. "You're earning yourself a special level of eternal torture." He stepped back and burst into a flock of bats. They flew up and over the barrier, then dived at the priest behind it.

Bobby gestured and the papers forming the wall came apart, flying at the dark magic imbued in each of the bats. Alucard shifted into shadow, something the papers couldn't attach to, before they could weigh down the individual bats.

"Bobby! He's free!"

The young priest reformed the barrier between himself and the vampire, then glanced over his shoulder. A sigh of relief escaped his lips because he saw that Yumie had indeed managed to remove the three bayonets pinning Father Anderson. As the teeming mass of shadows and hellfire eyes rose up on the other side of the wall of scriptures, Yumie pulled the bayonet from Anderson's side and hooked her arms under his. Bobby muttered the trigger words and the pages of the wall, along with the remaining ones in the book, flew up and around him.

Alucard's writhing, teeth-filled shadows let out a cacophony of vengeful growls and howls as the young priest seemed to disintegrate into pages himself, the pages swept over the nun and fallen paladin, absorbing them as well within the holy magic, and then swept out towards the hole in the wall. The progenitor of vampires tore through as many pages as he and his hounds could get teeth and claws into, ignoring the sizzling burns they caused, but it wasn't enough.

The majority of the scriptures exited the building, rushed over the battered form of Heinkel where she stood with back to one of Iscariot's armored SUVs and shooting at the gargantuan hell hound, and whisked her away in the flurry of pages.

Alucard reformed on the street, back to his usual Victorian-inspired outfit, with both guns in hand, unloading entire clips after them. But it was too late. They had run from battle, again, and escaped his wrath, again. When he was so fucking close to finally ending Anderson!

The Vampire King let out a vicious, inarticulate yell and grabbed the vehicle Heinkel had been propped against. He lifted it from the road as though it were a mere child's toy and threw it with all the force he could muster down the street, causing it to crash into another vehicle. The Iscariot vehicle was only half crunched in from the force, but the other vehicle was utterly flattened.

"Master!" Seras's voice cut through his rampaging mind. "If Iscariot is gone, we need you in here! Immediately! Ms. Mercedes is not in good shape!"

.

.

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A/N2: And we finally see Alucard and Mercedes' reunited, for the time being. And a glimpse of Vladcard. Always fun times when that ancient, impalement-loving side comes out, hm? Not a good idea to piss off the good _voivode_. Romanian readers, I have about half a dozen, if I screwed up on the Romanian bits, please let me know? I'm a fairly new student of the language and I am worried I may have made a mistake or two. Thank you!

 _Sufletul său este a ta_ _…_ _Soare negru_ _…_ _Recolta recompensa pe care este a ta cu binecuvântarea mea._ " = "His soul is yours, Black Sun. Harvest your reward with my blessing."

" _La dispoziţia_ _dumneavoastră_ _, draga mea" =_ "At your command, my love." It's important to note that Alucard used " _dumneavoastră_ _,"_ the formal, respect-signalling form of "you", that carries other linguistic nuances, rather than the briefer informal version.


	27. Chapter 27 Never Underestimate a Mouse

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Never Underestimate A Mouse

 _"_ _Master!" Seras's voice cut through his rampaging mind. "If Iscariot is gone, we need you in here! Immediately! Ms. Mercedes is not in good shape!"_

That stopped Alucard in his tracks, just as he was about to throw another vehicle. His blazing gaze went towards the seer's apartment, psychic sight simultaneously opening. He immediately saw what Seras meant. Walter had torn off his shirt sleeves to use them as tourniquets for her wounded leg and impaled arm, but she had already bled out quite a lot before their arrival. She was pale as paper, veins a clear webbing beneath skin, and body trembling from the onset of shock.

Alucard shifted to shadows, transporting himself as fast as he could move. "Seer, you're going to explain to me just what the hell happened before I arrived," he demanded in consternation once he reformed and bent over the injured human. His glasses disappeared and he met the human's golden-tinted gaze with his hellfire one.

"You thought, outside the box… when you gave, battle advice, sire of vampires…" Mercedes managed to give a wry, not entirely lucid, smile; breath and words coming out in short pants with the pain lancing through her. "But you forgot, to factor, who I was."

"Tell me what happened here with Anderson, Seer," Alucard said, in the tone of a commander demanding a battle report as he glanced over the injuries and Seras telepathically told him the extent of the damage. He catalogued the information and picked up on things his servants missed as the seer spoke.

"Universal law," Mercedes eventually gasped out, smile disappearing as another wave of pain hit her. "All things, must have balance. Neither light… nor dark, can exist unchecked…" Mercedes coughed raggedly, body trembling worse as it went into shock and she tried to fight it. "You exist, in all your dark power. Eventually, universe creates… an equalizer for the light."

"Anderson," Alucard prompted, trying to keep Mercedes talking and conscious as his mind raced over how to best handle her being severely injured because that hadn't been a part of the original plan he and his servants had made.

Mercedes nodded, knowing what Alucard was trying to do. She had enough time in nursing college that even her pain fogged mind recognized the danger she was in and that it was important she stay conscious.

"He nearly matches you… in strength, speed, regeneration… He can neutralize, your powers some." Mercedes spoke in stops and starts through clenched teeth, trying to keep from screaming from the pain that seemed to be growing worse by the second and trying to force herself to keep a coherent line of thought. "One of you, will eventually kill other… True light and dark… never coexist peacefully… But, even as, force of light… he's like you… He tips scales, again… to destruction… An opposing force can… help keep destruction, from spiraling, out of control… until balance, is found again… I can't match, either of you… in ways Anderson can. But as priestess, who taps, forces… of darkness… I have some powers, similar to yours… can hold you at bay… and can… counteract priest's blessings… drawn from forces, opposing mine…"

Mercedes began coughing again, body trembling harder and face contorting in agony. Dizziness was assailing her worse, her vision was darkening, as her body tried to shut down in an attempt to cope with the pain of her injuries.

"How did you manage to keep Anderson at bay, little enchantress mouse?" Alucard asked insistently, removing his coat and wrapping it around the human as the shaking became more violent.

"Moment, gods-cursed priest, entered… my wards blocked him, from reaching his source… No holy tricks… He could only, inflict mundane damage… hounds, could heal, from such damage… as normally would… I blessed, my weapons…" Mercedes turned her gold-tinted gaze to her left hand, where the cut on her palm was, and Alucard's gaze followed hers. "Made it, so Anderson, couldn't regenerate… as fast as, he usually could." The priestess's gaze, which was becoming more unfocused, went to the golden-eyed Artemis nearby with a small smile once more on her lips. "I gave same… blessing… to hounds." Mercedes's gaze went back to the progenitor of vampires. A momentary brighter flicker of gold reappeared in the enchantress's eyes as she managed to summon up a brief burst of fortifying magic. "I gave… the bastard… a taste of, his own arcane medicine."

Alucard smirked in approval of the strategy as the magic-wielding heiress finished speaking and closed her eyes in pain. "You showed the same adaptive and creative side you did last night, Lady Mercedes, and evened the odds with your home field advantage."

Mercedes started to laugh, but ended up coughing harshly. She opened her eyes again when she could finally catch her breath and met Alucard's gaze, trying to concentrate on the fiery colors.

"That, I did, _domn meu_ " the priestess agreed quietly. "Even, a mouse… can bite back, when cornered."

"I believe that after we bring you someplace safe to get patched up and recovering, Seer," the sire of all vampires said, still smirking and hellfire eyes flaring brighter, "certain writers should be alerted that they need a reworking of their plot as it does not transfer to reality well. It would be more sensible for the cat and dog to be the ones constantly tormenting one another and the mouse who occasionally lends needed aid to the dog when the cat does not expect it."

Mercedes let out another short, pain filled, coughing laugh. She gasped out weakly, "Dog… can be… useful… when snarled… self out… and has sights… on mutual enemy."

Neither acknowledged the extremely confused looks on Seras's and Walter's faces.

Alucard kept his fiery gaze on the human, but he could tell from her unfocused expression that she couldn't see even the increased light from his eyes. His smirk faded as he reached out and cupped her face, gently directing her drooping face back in his direction. He asked telepathically, trying even still to keep her mind active, "Indeed, he could be, _draga mea_. So stay awake, keep looking at me, and tell me if you think those revisions might be allowed and a re-launch of the show attempted?"

"Will allow… rewrite… on one… condition… _domn meu…_ " Mercedes murmured out loud, eyes drooping closed again, though she struggled to keep eye contact as he was ordering her and didn't realize she was hearing the vampire's words in her mind.

"And what condition is that, _draga mea_?" he asked telepathically.

Mercedes managed a bare twitch of lips as a smile. "Writers… get, better… at dog's… entrances… Timing… sucked… last episode…"

Alucard chuckled momentarily. "I think that such will not be repeated again as long as the mouse keeps the worst of its bites aimed at mangy cats and the dog isn't forced into a retreat unless it does something particularly foolish again."

Mercedes's last words came out as a whisper as she finally lost the battle to remain conscious, "Agreed… _mein… Schwarze Sonne_ …"

" _Ewig_ …" Alucard said quietly, a knowing smirk tugging his lips as she again named him in such fashion. His expression and tone otherwise remained impassive. "Rest, Seer, but remember your fight is far from done. I'll have you in the hands of doctors soon and I will be most put out if you don't live."

"Master," Seras said in concern, drawing said vampire's attention. She decided not to ask about the odd, seemingly delirious, last exchanges between the desperately injured heiress and the Vampire King with sometimes questionable sanity, in light of immediate critical matters. "She does need surgery and treatment for these injuries, we're certainly not equipped to handle impalement wounds, but where are we going to bring her that's safe?"

"We did as you ordered and disposed of all the remaining operatives at the Archdiocese," Walter agreed, likewise focusing on the pressing issues, "but, clearly, their special agents got away. After a counter-strike as happened today and their plans derailed, Iscariot is not going to simply walk away and allow the young lady and her son to live. Even without the uncertain motivation they have for targeting the two for death in the first place, the local authorities will soon be arriving from all the noise created. They'll follow her to the hospital and be waiting to question her as soon as she recovers enough to answer their questions. Iscariot won't risk exposure on that level. Their operatives may be reduced in numbers now, especially here in The States, but it would only take a sniper on the next flight available, or Anderson or one of his new recruits resurfacing, to kill her in a hospital bed."

Alucard glanced at both of his servants as they spoke. He didn't have an immediate answer to that complication pointed out, though he had already been considering it himself while he tried keeping Mercedes conscious. The vampire continued contemplating the situation as quickly as he could, knowing his servants' emergency treatments for the human's injuries were buying them time, but they were not going to be near enough to save her life on their own. With precious seconds ticking away, Alucard finally decided a course of action.

"We move the seer and boy before the police arrive. I'll bring her to a hospital downtown under a false name with the cover story she was caught in the crossfire by the Archdiocese and you'll keep the boy out of the way and safe," Alucard said stoically. "There were more than enough civilian injuries that she'll be lost in the crowd long enough for the emergency team to complete surgery without her identity being questioned deep enough to expose the cover. Once out of surgery, we remove her from their care and bring her and the child someplace safe for her to recover with someone who can also watch the boy while she does. Once they're hidden away, we can form our own strategy for finding out more about Iscariot's new operatives, what all this was ultimately about, and then put an end to this game."

"Where are we going to bring these two?" Seras asked.

"We'll figure that out once she's being seen to. There are a few options available to consider," Alucard replied. His coat disappeared from the human and he carefully stripped her of her boot daggers, the only remaining weapons she had on her, and flak jacket so she would look an innocent civilian. He continued his orders as he did so. "You two, pack clothes and some toys for the boy. His clothes are in the bureau, his favorite toy is the dragon he is sleeping with, and she keeps suitcases in the closet. Get him, his things, and the seer's box of magic tricks and weapons she had on her tonight, in the car Iscariot used and drive downtown. There's also another katana set in the closet and a staff in the living room, bring those as well."

"Her weapons as well, Master Alucard?" Walter interrupted for clarification, brow furrowing in confusion. "She will not be fit for combat for some time."

"Leaving them will create more questions with the authorities when they search the place," Alucard stated definitively. When finished disarming Mercedes he wrapped his arms around her body to pick her up. "And the seer will need her means of protection once she's recovered some should this situation not be resolved by then, her location be found, and another attack happens. Mercedes, or whomever we leave them with for safekeeping, attempting to come back later to move those things could lead to Iscariot or the authorities tracking down where we brought them and would make having attempted to hide them a useless effort."

Seras and Walter nodded their agreement.

"Find a big enough van to appropriate discreetly, there's several moving companies downtown so look there. Go to the hotel and load in our belongings. When she is out of surgery and safe to move, I will contact you. One of you will stay with the boy someplace inconspicuous and the other will come to the hospital with the van. We'll load her in with necessary treatment supplies, pick up the boy and whichever of you wished to guard him, and by then I'll have had enough time to plan out further action and where we'll bring the two."

"And what do we do with the boy while his mother is in surgery and then when one of us leaves with the van to pick her up?" Seras asked with a frown. "A seemingly unconscious child being shifted about is not exactly inconspicuous, Master, and will draw attention and questions."

Alucard sighed in aggravation with the delaying questions, knowing that he needed to get Mercedes to the hospital as her life was literally bleeding out in his arms.

"Once you've gotten our things out of the hotel, wake the boy up, tell him whatever you need to to keep him docile, he's used to having sitters so it shouldn't be that difficult, and then bring him somewhere for breakfast," Alucard replied impatiently. "Just keep him busy and safe and out of overly crowded places where he may be recognized. Do not hand him over to anyone without my permission for any reason. Not even her vampire allies. Two were sent to protect them, yet one murdered the other when Iscariot approached and then ran off, giving Anderson a free shot at her to save his own skin from engaging the priest. Until I decide who will be safe to bring them to, you keep the boy with yourselves at all costs.

"You are still half a kid yourself and Walter helped raise Sir Integra. You two can manage a small boy and figure out the rest of the fine details without the advice of someone who hasn't cared for a child in nearly 600 years. I need to get his mother into surgery." When Seras looked to question further, Alucard said sharply, "Hurry or you'll need deal with the local authorities, Police Girl. There may be a short delayed response with available units being sent to handle the chaos caused by the damage downtown, but they'll get a few units here soon enough. You didn't bring your old uniform and you'd be far out of your former jurisdiction regardless."

And with those sarcastic final comments, Alucard shifted into his shadow state and was out of the apartment as quickly as he could move.

Seras and Walter exchanged a glance to each other, then looked at the sleeping child. With a simultaneous sigh, both began carrying out their master's orders as swiftly as only two vampires could to avoid a run in with the local police.

"Think we can make it out of here before the authorities arrive and try to arrest us for mass murder and leaving the scene of a crime with evidence?" Seras asked, trying to lighten the tense mood as she set about packing the child's clothes in one suitcase. "And likely an attempted kidnapping charge, destruction of private property, and possibly terrorism to boot if we get connected to the downtown incident?"

"Undoubtedly," Walter replied with an amused smirk as he speedily packed up Mercedes's weapons and the damaged flak jacket into another larger suitcase. "American police are notoriously ill prepared for large scale emergencies. We will, in all probability, have already switched to our new getaway van and be loading the coffins before the Philadelphia PD even pull up outside Ms. Dreux-Brézé's apartment building."

Seras finished putting several sets of clothes for the boy in the suitcase. She was now at the neatly arranged row of cubbies along one wall and pulling out several books, some action figures and toy cars, a couple coloring books and his pencil case full of colored pencils and crayons. She put those in his suitcase, then turned to the bed to grab a couple of his stuffed animals.

Artemis was still crouched protectively near the boy. Golden eyes narrowed on Seras and the demonic familiar let out a low growl when the female vampire approached.

Seras let out a startled squeak.

Walter turned in their direction at the noises.

"Now listen you!" Seras was trying to say steadily, pointing a finger at the hell hound. "I know you're supposed to protect the boy, but we need to move him someplace safe! Stop that!"

Artemis growled at Seras again, three rows of razor sharp teeth snapping at Seras's finger, causing the young vampire to jump back to avoid having her finger eaten.

Walter sighed at the delay.

"Miss Seras, why don't you retrieve the last suitcase and pack outfits for Ms. Dreux-Brézé as well," Walter suggested, taking charge of the situation with the long practice and practicality of one used to handling another's mundane affairs. "If she is going to be away for any length of time, she will need more than her weapons. Be certain to pack clothes that will not be constricting and will be easy for her to dress herself in, as she will need be careful about applying pressure to her injuries and will be in no condition with the injury to her arm to manipulate complex fastenings. Also gather their personal toiletries from the bathroom and find her purse. That should be sufficient to hold them over for the duration of this situation as other needs can be met by whichever relation or friend Maser Alucard decides they will be best residing with. I will try reasoning with the boy's guardian canine."

Seras nodded, grateful for the intervention, and slowly backed away from the protective demonic familiar to do as suggested.

When the female vampire opened the third suitcase, she found a large carryon bag sitting inside. It was heavy with items stored inside. Seras pulled the bag out and opened it to see if spare toiletries were already packed and therefore saving her the need to do so.

"Oh my goodness!" the young vampire exclaimed with wide eyes before she could stop herself, a blush entering her pale cheeks.

Seras accidentally dropped the bag in her surprise. The bag upended and its entire contents went spilling out onto the floor- a wide variety of personal pleasure toys, lubricants, massage oils, handcuffs, silk rope and leather restraints, blindfolds, a couple floggers, and other miscellaneous erotic toys.

Walter was about to try dealing with Artemis, but paused upon hearing Seras.

"Miss Seras," Walter asked with a raised eyebrow as he turned to see what the commotion and delay was for, "Is there a problem?" He saw the items Seras was quickly trying to shove back into the bag and now both eyebrows raised, struggling not to show surprise or amusement.

"N-no… No problem!" Seras stuttered in embarrassment, scooping up a silk blindfold tangled in a set of gold clamps connected by a matching slender chain, trying not to figure out just what she was tossing into the bag. "J-just a bag already in use!"

"So I see," Walter said wryly, a smirk forming despite his best efforts. "I believe you can leave that particular bag and its contents here, Miss Seras."

"Yes, Walter!" Seras agreed, all too willing to do so. She thought to herself, 'Bloody hell! Ms. Mercedes is a certifiable closet deviant!' as she shoved a stiff leather cat-of-nine-tails that had softer leather rosebuds on the end of each tail into the bag. She quickly zipped it up and tossed it to the back of the closet. Seras refused to look over at Walter the entire time, mortified over stumbling onto another woman's toys and other bedroom items.

Walter shook his head slightly and smothered the entertained smirk as Seras grabbed the now empty suitcase to pack the things Mercedes would need in the immediate future. Walter calmly turned back around and walked over to the hell hound, stopping a few paces away.

Artemis's fur ruffled along her neck and her long slender tail flicked in agitation. She gave another low warning growl, inching forward to place herself more directly between her charge and the vampire.

"I realize your mistress has ordered you to protect her son," Walter said rationally, as though talking to another person. "But she is incapable at this time of issuing a command to relinquish that duty and so you must try to be reasonable. As you have witnessed, we are attempting to also extend our protection, for both her and the boy, and she did not turn that aid aside."

The hell hound continued her low growling, not willing to disobey her mistress's strict orders and risk allowing harm to come to her charge.

Walter continued patiently, "We are not attempting to take him from your care, worthy guardian. We simply need to move him to a safer location so none of your mistress's enemies find the boy and attempt to harm him again. If you are like the master's hounds, you are capable of shifting yourself into a shadow state to avoid being seen?"

Artemis stopped her growling, considering the vampire's words. The demonic dog gave a slight huff and nodded her head once warily.

Walter gave a polite nod in return.

"Then I request you allow us to move young Xander as our master outlined for the boy's own safety. While you are a capable guardian and your mistress's faith in your dedication is clearly well placed, the boy will need caring for while his mother is recovering that you, as a canine, are unable to provide. As we know that her immediate associations are not safe to bring the boy to, we will protect and give him that care personally until an alternative is found. You may travel with the boy in your more inconspicuous shadow form in the car parked outside, and the van we will then transfer him to, and keep watch over him. When he needs to leave the vehicles, you can remain nearby in whatever shadows are available to continue your vigilant watch as your mistress has ordered until such time as she regains consciousness and gives you the command to do otherwise. Does that sound reasonable?"

Artemis turned towards Xander, gave the suggestion some thought, then looked back at the male vampire.

Seras reentered the bedroom, having packed those things Walter had suggested. She had also spotted a handheld children's video game in its storage case in the living room while searching for his mother's purse, and a portable dvd player leaning against the line of dvds on one wall's built in shelves, and decided to pack those in the third suitcase with a few movies as well to help keep him occupied for however long they had to watch him and wherever he'd be going for safe keeping.

The demonic familiar glanced between the two vampires, taking in Seras's attempt at a friendly smile and Walter's calm and patient expression. Artemis gave another snuff and nod of her head, letting her tail droop and her fur settle down.

"Thank you, worthy guardian, for your cooperation," Walter said pleasantly with another nod of his own. "I assure you, we will give young Xander the best attention and care we are capable of."

The hell hound gave a small bark with her five-eyed gaze pinned on the vampire, making it clear she expected no less. Artemis then hopped off the bed and walked some feet away, keeping her golden gaze cautiously on Walter as she did so.

Once the hound had sat back on her hind legs, Walter gave another nod to her and approached the bed. He picked up the stuffed animals Seras had initially meant to grab and turned to the younger vampire.

"I will bring their belongings out to the car, Miss Seras," Walter said. "If you would carry the boy out and settle him in- as his mother may be more comfortable to hear that another woman was the one to do so, given his usual sitter and his guardian are both female- his guardian can likewise join him and as soon as everyone is loaded we can be on our way."

Seras glanced in the direction of the demonic familiar and warily asked, just to be certain she wouldn't get bitten, "May I carry little Xander?"

Artemis nodded once, not being friendly, but also not becoming threatening.

"Thank you," Seras said nervously with a small smile. "I will be careful with him."

The hell hound nodded again with a snuff. Artemis watched cautiously as Seras scooped up the sleeping child, keeping him wrapped in his blanket and letting him keep tight hold on his stuffed dragon.

Less than a minute later, all were in the vehicle and they were driving away from the apartment building. There wasn't a siren to be heard yet and they made a clean getaway.

Alucard appeared at the edge of the parking lot between two cars outside the emergency room of one of the Penn Hospital locations in Center City within a few short minutes of leaving Mercedes's apartment, around the same time Seras and Walter were leaving her apartment with her son. His clothing had changed to a less conspicuous outfit of a black suit with a white dress shirt and a black dress coat. His hat was gone, his sunglasses appeared a normal dark tint, and the sleeves of his dress shirt, which mimicked Walter's, appeared to be ripped off to give the impression of being the one to have treated Mercedes's wounds.

The vampire adopted a concerned expression and went running at a human's pace towards the emergency entrance, nimbly darting through the small stream of people coming and going from the hospital in the chaos caused by the destruction three miles away. Two harried EMTs, who were heading to their ambulance to go back to the site of the incident, saw Alucard with the injured Mercedes in his arms and yelled for him to wait.

"She from the attack downtown?" the brunette EMT called out unnecessarily as they turned their stretcher around.

Alucard made his way over to them and carefully laid Mercedes down on the stretcher.

"Yes, she is," Alucard replied, the perfect picture of a worried human. "We were supposed to be meeting for breakfast before work. I went looking for her when I didn't see her at the restaurant and heard the noise a few blocks over near where her bus stop was. I couldn't find an ambulance in the area so I rushed her here myself after binding up her injuries as best as I could."

"Yeah, we're stretched pretty thin down there and trying to get into the worst areas with people and debris clogging the streets isn't helping," the blonde EMT said evenly. He was already aware of the issues himself from their first run downtown and was already checking the young woman's vitals with equipment in his emergency bag as her boyfriend spoke.

The brunette was taking a quick look at her injuries to alert the doctors inside how quickly she'd need to be seen in comparison to other patients.

Fortunately for Mercedes, Alucard realized as he took stock of the hospital's situation himself, with as quickly as the assault at the archdiocese had gone and then the speed he and his servants had reacted to Anderson's attack on the humans, the hospital hadn't yet become flooded with the victims of the incident. A number of the victims who had been brought in so far seemed to be only sporting mildly concerning injuries that weren't as critical to be seen, so Mercedes should be considered a priority for treatment.

As the blonde began to push the stretcher into the hospital he asked, "What's your girlfriend's name?"

"Victoria. Victoria Bennet," Alucard replied, combining Seras's last name with the last name of one of his alias's as a quick alias for Mercedes.

"Victoria have any medical conditions that we should be aware of?" the brunette asked. "Any chance you know what her blood type is?"

"We haven't been seeing one another very long, but I'm not aware of her having any serious health conditions," Alucard replied. He glanced down at the blood covering his arms and thought it was too bad he couldn't simply take a lick of her blood in front of the EMTs to tell them her blood type. Normally he could tell by smell alone, but the dark magic that laced her blood distorted the scent just enough to keep it from being discernable. "I'm not sure what her blood type is, but she has lost a lot of blood."

"We'll get a type screen done and administer crash blood until then," the brunette said, more to himself and unfazed by the answer. "What went through her arm?"

"Shrapnel from a building," Alucard lied easily.

"Should have left it in, would have helped slow the bleeding," the blonde said in perfunctory rebuke. "Gonna have to tell the nurse to administer a tetanus shot with everything else."

Alucard remained silent, full well knowing they couldn't have left the blade in Mercedes's arm for the hospital to see. While it would be amusing to leave evidence of Anderson being the cause of the injury and placing some pressure on the priest from authorities, such would draw attention to the fact that a victim of Anderson was at the hospital. Anderson hadn't been personally involved in any civilian injuries during this exchange, which meant it would be easy for Iscariot to deduce that the victim was Mercedes, regardless of what cover story was given. Also of consideration was that if/when Liam and the Elders found out Mercedes had gone missing and was injured, they'd undoubtedly start monitoring the hospital reports and be just as quick to realize the implications. And as Alucard had considered, at least by bringing her here- instead of a hospital closer to where she lived that might be a little less in demand for services, but where people were likely to start looking for her first- she would be easier to disguise among the others injured in the fight.

The brunette EMT left to try finding one of the triage nurses to help them and have the front desk page a surgeon. The blonde went about trying to further slow the bleeding from the wounds until they could get Mercedes hooked up to an IV and into surgery. A nurse was called from the back and made her way to the front desk.

"I have another patient for you in need of emergency surgery. Pulse is 90. Blood pressure is low, 80 over 50, Unknown blood type, no medical history made aware of," the brunette said to the nurse. "Multiple deep lacerations, right bicep, abdomen, left thigh. Full penetration between left arm's ulna and radius from shrapnel. Suffering acute blood loss and continuing to lose blood from injuries. Patient's boyfriend applied emergency tourniquets and bandages to injuries and rushed her here."

The front desk buzzed them into the hallway leading into the intake and surgery rooms and the nurse led the small procession past several rooms already taken and into one of the small surgery rooms. She pulled out an IV needle and began setting Mercedes up with the tubing while the brunette went running for the crash blood needed.

The blonde EMT gestured towards the door. "I'm sorry, sir, but we're going to need you to wait in the waiting room down the hall while we treat Ms. Bennet. There's a bathroom connected to it where you can wash off. Someone will be out to speak with you for further information if needed and to update you to your girlfriend's condition."

Alucard nodded once and went down the hallway in the direction gestured to. The vampire went into the bathroom mentioned, closed and locked the door behind him, and glanced down at the blood covering his arms and soaked into the front of his suit.

Alucard raised an eyebrow slightly as he sniffed the human's blood. His eyes flared a brighter red behind his sunglasses as he smelled that tantalizing smell she had of human blood laced with dark power.

'Well, Seer…' Alucard thought with morbid amusement and a fair bit of hunger after fighting with Anderson, the other operatives, and being up during the day. 'I may not bite you as you are more useful alive and cooperating with me to work against Iscariot, and I don't want to find out what tricks you may have up your sleeve should I sink my teeth into your warm silky flesh, but I won't turn down a free taste of your essence. It would be a waste to wash perfectly good blood down the drain or make it disappear into the ether.'

Alucard lifted his right arm, which was bloodier than the left, and his long tongue licked up from his wrist, over his palm and along his index finger. The vampire let out a deep throaty groan of delight at the taste of the human's unique blood as he licked his finger clean, almost (but not quite) wishing Mercedes had bled out more.

As he was moving his tongue to the next finger, Alucard suddenly felt a surge of magic hit him from behind with palpable force. The magic slammed the vampire into the wall in front of him in a split second and he dropped nerveless to the floor and slumped to one side.


	28. Chapter 28 Serious Complications to Plan

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Serious Complications to the Plan

Energy- flickering prismatic white, bright violet and crimson red- pulsed throughout Alucard, causing his body to shake uncontrollably where he lay in shock. Searing pain, like molten metal, flowed through his undead veins; a bi-product of the energy forcing its way into him and coursing through his veins. And despite the agony, Alucard couldn't so much as yell in outrage or pain as he couldn't seem to take control of his human form to do something even that minor.

The eldritch lights flashed symbols around Alucard, too fast for even the progenitor of vampires to take proper note of. The blazing pain increased until all the vampire was aware of was the sensation.

Alucard tried to shift his form to escape the torment caused by the magic- to shadow, to fog, to other creatures. He tried to use his demonic energy to push the foreign energy away.

Nothing his agony-filled mind could think to try was working. The vampire couldn't tap into his energy and he couldn't shift out of his human-appearing physical form to any other forms. The pain intensified further to levels far beyond what any mortal would have been able to withstand experiencing. The lights and symbols flickered into one another faster and faster until the three colors were a single blur of light.

In that moment, remembering not what Mercedes had warned about the act of biting her, but about not being the least digestible for even himself, the progenitor of vampires wondered if whatever magic this was would be what finally ended his existence.

But no sooner had Alucard wondered the thought, the light withdrew and condensed in front of the vampire, then shot back out of the bathroom. He was left lying on the floor as though nothing had happened.

Alucard lifted his aching head, the sensation of pain slowly fading away from his body, and looked down at himself. Nothing appeared different in his outward guise.

Alucard held up a hand and willed it to shift to shadows. His hand immediately shifted to the insubstantial state and his crimson energy could be seen laced through the shadows. A moment later the shadows became insects crawling up the stump that was his wrist and up his arm, and then the insects shifted into a single bat. The bat flew around the bathroom and then landed back on Alucard's wrist, becoming an elegant human hand again. The hand gave a careless wave of long slender fingers and one of his hell hounds appeared. Another wave sent the eight-eyed familiar away before it could make any noises. Alucard's hellfire gaze went to the sink and the faucets turned on with the slightest touch of his telekinesis, then back off at his command.

'Well, what the hell was that all about then?!' Alucard thought in bafflement as he checked to see if he could access the most basic of his powers and found that he could.

The progenitor of vampires then noticed something.

Alucard realized that while the pain was fading from most of his body, above where his undead heart was there was still a steady, low-level, searing pain. His jacket and shirt disappeared instantly and he looked down.

There upon his ivory chest was a strange marking, glowing faintly with prismatic light like the refraction of sunlight through a crystal.

The marking was comprised of glyphs of some sort and symbols Alucard didn't recognize, though a few looked vaguely familiar. As he watched, the lights were slowly fading until they were almost imperceptible to even his supernatural eyes. But the lights didn't disappear entirely, nor did the subtle lingering ache, and neither did the mark disappear.

Alucard shifted his form to other humanoid forms, and all signs of the enchantment remained. He shifted into a flock of bats, and each bat had the mark on its chest. The same was true for every other animal he tried.

Alucard shifted back to his usual human state and hellfire eyes narrowed in fury as he gazed at the enchanted mark.

The progenitor of vampires shifted his entire form into shadows. He could still feel that faint ethereal ache even as a shadow. He twisted in and out of himself, dozens upon dozens of hellfire eyes appearing. After a few seconds, Alucard spotted the symbol glowing in the midst of his shadows. He tried to shift his shadowy form away from where the symbol was, but the ward shifted with him, refusing to be separated from himself.

'What the fuck is this?!' Alucard thought, thoroughly infuriated by this development as few things had the capability of making him.

The vampire shifted back into his normal human form once more and looked down at his exposed chest and the mark that still glowed ever so faintly.

'It's not stopping me from accessing my powers as Hellsing's enchantments did. So what _is_ it doing? And why the hell is it still hurting?! What the fuck did that tricky little mouse just do to me?!'

Alucard's hellfire gaze went in the general direction Mercedes was in, knowing that whatever it was, it had come from her blood.

Her damnably alluring exotic blood laced with power that had beckoned for the vampire to taste it. It wasn't just residual dark energy from all her magic usage that was laced in her blood stream, but an enchantment of some sort as well.

It took every bit of restraint Alucard had to refrain from barging into the surgery room and diving into the enchantress's mind to discover what she had done. Whatever it was, it was apparently not hindering him, nor was it an immediate threat. She was also unconscious and near death at the moment, so he may have a great deal of trouble getting answers from her mind in the state it was in.

Alucard wasn't about to try biting Mercedes to get answers from her blood, not in front of witnesses and with only a small amount of her blood causing this infernal mark. Who knew what could happen if he drank more fresh from the source.

Not to mention, she had so little blood left in her veins that he'd likely kill her. Kill her before he got his answers.

While the thought of killing the enchantress was rather tempting at the moment with this turn of events, Alucard wanted answers before her death.

With an irate growl the vampire's clothes appeared again, her remaining blood was gone of its own accord during whatever magic had happened.

Alucard decided to wait until Mercedes was out of surgery and awake to question her. Given her condition, he wasn't sure if the human would even be aware her little blood trap had been sprung on him when she woke up, but he'd make her aware. Then the little mouse had some answering to do and a reversal of magic to perform to get this god damn mark off him.

Alucard left the bathroom and realized, among the many noises in the steadily increasing bedlam of the hospital receiving injured civilians from the incident downtown, there was a commotion coming from the direction opposite the room Mercedes was in and there was no noise coming from the room she had been in.

Alucard opened up his vampiric sight and confirmed the room was in fact empty. He quickly shifted his view and scanned the hospital until he saw Mercedes had been moved to a larger surgery room. The triage nurse who had been working on Mercedes was still working, and a surgeon was with her now, but an assistant nurse was scurrying about and hitting buttons on beeping machines that were making an infernal racket.

With narrowed hellfire eyes, the vampire hurried as fast as he could without drawing attention to himself. Alucard opened the door to the room and looked around at the scene. The surgeon was concentrating on the puncture wound through Mercedes's arm and the triage nurse was alternately assisting the surgeon and working on the smaller injuries. Mercedes's already pale skin was now near translucent from the loss of blood and there were several machines hooked up to her, including an IV attached to a bag of blood and an oxygen feed tube going into her nose and the mask over her mouth.

"What is happening in here? Why is Victoria in this room and what is all that noise about?" Alucard demanded, his calm yet commanding voice cutting over the noises that were coming from machines Mercedes did not appear to be hooked up to.

Three sets of startled eyes darted over to the vampire. The surgeon quickly collected herself and her attention was back on the most pressing injury she was tending to. The nurse and her assistant exchanged nervous looks. The medical staff were not aware they were dealing with a vampire, Alucard still had himself appearing as human as possible and his tinted glasses effectively hid his hellfire gaze, but his agitated presence radiating out and his imperial bearing was still enough to make the humans instinctively fearful.

The nurse said to the assistant, "I believe the EMTs said this man was the patient's boyfriend. Fill him in while you get those damned machines to stop their beeping."

"Ms. Bennet required moving to this room so we could treat her injuries properly," the nurse's assistant said, averting his eyes from the vampire. He continued to fiddle with a machine in frustration. "We had just gotten her moved and the surgeon entered when there was some sort of electrical surge and all the machines started going off and aren't responding properly. We brought in replacement equipment from the next room and Ms. Bennet is now being operated on." The nurse's assistant looked over to the triage nurse, "I'm going to roll these to the other room and page the tech boys, 'cause I can't get this thing to stop. The backup battery is keeping it beeping even when unplugged and I don't know how to get to that."

"Fine, just get them out of here," the surgeon said bluntly. She glanced over at her patient's boyfriend and then her attention went back to working, "And, I'm sorry, but I don't know your name, so whoever you are to Ms. Bennet, please leave with the CNA, as we can't have you here in a sterile operating room. We will alert you if you need know something has happened to Ms. Bennet."

"As you alerted me to changing her rooms?" Alucard asked sharply.

"You were not in the waiting rooms when we passed them," the triage nurse said patiently. She was clearly trying to diffuse the tension, with increasingly nervous looks made in the vampire's direction. "We did see the bathroom in use and figured you were washing off. We brought Ms. Bennet here and we would have sent someone in a few minutes to look for you so you were made aware of the move. Now please, sir, I know you must be very worried for your girlfriend's health, but please go with the CNA for now so we can have our full concentration on your girlfriend. We will alert you when surgery is complete or if anything happens during surgery."

"Alert me when surgery is complete," Alucard said with a dangerously calm voice. His gaze lingered on Mercedes's wan, unconscious figure and he added, "If something happens during surgery that ends in her death, I can promise you beyond a shadow of a doubt that this will be the last surgery of your careers."

Alucard turned on a heel and left the operating room before the medical staff could comment on the blatant threat, taken however they wanted to as meaning legal or violent ramifications. He settled himself in the nearest waiting room where he could keep a view of the proceedings with his vampiric second sight.

There was a small television playing quietly in the corner of the waiting room, tuned into a local news station. It was currently showing live footage of the destruction in Center City. The oblivious human reporters were interviewing random confused witnesses, supposed political experts, and anyone else they could hurry in front of a microphone to make guesses on what had taken place. They were becoming laughably further and further off the mark as they tried to piece together what had happened, the guesses becoming more elaborate by the minute.

It was only after he was seated for a few minutes that Alucard wondered at the sudden surge of protectiveness he felt for Mercedes as he saw her in such a precarious state of being. A minute before he had been thoroughly infuriated with her and whatever enchantment her magic had branded him with.

After a very brief reflection on the matter, Alucard decided- as he had when he decided to remain and protect Mercedes and her son from Iscariot, whether she wanted his continued aid or not- that it was because it suited him to keep a useful ally alive and swaying her back to cooperation with his goals. She may be infuriating and difficult to deal with at times, but she was also intelligent, inventive, gifted with magic and psychic sight, and a skilled fighter (for a human). Her strong will, incensing as it was to him when misdirected towards fighting him, had also carried her through surviving a fight with Anderson and dealing the priest a good deal of damage in return.

Faults the seer had aside, she was undeniably a useful ally.

Keeping her and her son alive also came with the added bonus of denying Iscariot the satisfaction of killing the humans themselves and having their convoluted plans one step closer to being accomplished.

A medical staff causing her death through negligence would make all the efforts he had just made to that end a waste of time.

That decided, the vampire concluded that was quite enough inner reflection on the matter.

Alucard didn't care to evaluate the small part of his mind that persistently whispered there were possible alternatives to his motivations where the woman was concerned. A part that had attempted to resurrect an image from the past while he had been viewing Mercedes's pale and nearly lifeless form on the operating table. That part of his mind had caused enough trouble as it was and he was ignoring it with as much determination as he could muster.

Alucard switched his focus to the more important task of contemplating what to do with the two humans once Mercedes was stable enough to be moved. He debated on the safest place to bring them that could adequately see to her injuries and provide care for her son while he and his servants continued trying to discover the full extent of what Iscariot was plotting, how it tied to the humans being targeted, and why Iscariot felt Mercedes was such a threat that they needed to send such a heavy force to do so. Once that was discovered, they would know how to proceed in bringing Iscariot's plans to the same destruction their base and operatives in The States had been subjected to today.

As far as what to do with Mercedes and her son, Alucard was going over in his mind those people he knew of in her life that might be candidates. Though he knew her wishes, the seer's original considerations on the matter and request of him wasn't the safest choice for herself or her son given the circumstances that had played out. He wasn't about to have the efforts he had extended to keep the humans safe be made for nothing because a caretaker couldn't do so properly.

Her immediate family, which included a couple doctors, would have the skills to take care of her during recovery and the resources to care for her son, along with the ties of family to desire to protect her by hiding her. But if Iscariot did track her down to her family, which would be one of the first places they'd look, her mundane human family would be hard pressed to survive against such an attack.

Mercedes said her best friend had some sort of gifts that she had been aiding to train and could defend herself with, and was the boy's temporary legal guardian. Alucard wasn't sure if the other young woman or her family were capable of tending the serious injuries Mercedes had sustained, however. Nor just how efficient at protecting the two this Val would be.

Handing the humans over to Liam didn't even enter seriously into Alucard's thoughts.

As Alucard had told his servants, he had sensed two vampires near Mercedes's apartment, and that one had killed the other, and then run off. While Mercedes voiced confidence in her friendship with the Elder, and Liam had an obviously strong fixation on the human, clearly not all the vampires in the area felt the same way Liam did about keeping her safe. Which sounded along the lines of how American Elders treated 'companions' from Mercedes's description, and she had stated quite clearly she was not even a companion of Liam's in that sense. Who knew how many other such poor judgments in underlings the Elder had made along the way, besides the one who had killed his own and abandoned Mercedes when Anderson was approaching. However extensive it was, clearly there was some sort of dissent with those vampires under Liam's supposed control and how they viewed their obligations to protect Mercedes. Handing the two humans over to Liam would likely be handing them over to an enemy that Liam was blindly deeming a friend.

Not to mention, Alucard was rather looking forward to tearing Liam to shreds for his provocations earlier in the week. The progenitor of vampires also felt death was the least the Elder deserved for choosing so poorly in guardians for Mercedes and Xander this morning. It would make little sense to send the humans to Liam for care when said vampire had earned himself a death sentence. The execution of that sentence had been necessarily forestalled to deal with Iscariot, and would need be postponed long enough to get the humans out of Anderson's reach, but it wasn't forgotten. It would also need to be done in a less public fashion than how Iscariot was dealt with today to keep Mercedes from discovering. Killing a friend of hers, no matter how deserving of death he was, and Mercedes finding out he had done so, was guaranteed to make her far less amiable and cooperative.

…Alucard told himself Liam's clear interest in Mercedes was only a small factor in his desire to tear the cocky aristocrat to shreds, or in dismissing the idea of possibly giving a singular time of lenience to a friend of an ally and subsequently entrusting her and her son over to Liam for care.

Alucard had previously told his servants that the seer and her son would be left in the States once this business with Iscariot was concluded, and that had been his original plan. However, all of his other plans had drastically changed with how the fight with Iscariot had gone and Mercedes being subsequently injured as badly as she was. Alucard was now considering the possibility of making a call to Integra and having her use her vast connections to help him remove the humans from the States and to a temporary safe house somewhere in England. Integra wouldn't be too pleased that he was asking her to, but, once the situation was explained, she would likely agree with the necessity to keep them out of Iscariot's hands. Integra's dislike of Iscariot nearly matched his own, so she'd be willing to give aid on the grounds of thwarting Anderson and his flunkies.

Sir Integra would likely even be persuadable out of the unspoken noble's code of conduct that still existed when one of their own was endangered. Even if Mercedes and her son were French nobility and the English knight wasn't fond of the French. Nobility was nobility, titles or not. There were few enough true nobles still around in the modern era. Mercedes conducted herself as a proper noble in her daily life and in the face of the enemy. Integra would feel honor-bound to help once given an appropriately swaying account of what happened.

And if Integra wanted to be difficult about it, as she sometimes was in regards to his requests for cutting through governmental red tape to do something covertly because she was still a bit resentful he had escaped her control, Alucard could always remind her that it would cause him no personal upset to rescind their current arrangement of allowing her to hire himself and his servants for more serious operations when Hellsing's human forces were in need of reinforcements. As Seras had just gotten back from doing with the Geese. Hellsing wasn't his sole source of income by any means, even if they did pay a properly gracious rate for his services, so he could afford the loss if Integra no longer felt the need to likewise make her services available.

Sir Integra always raged and made threats on the rare occasions when Alucard pulled that card, but the sole surviving member of the Hellsing family knew as well as he did that she was incapable of making good on those threats to the progenitor of vampires now that he was no longer bound to serve her family and with her being unable to toss those particular shackles on him again. They had a mutually beneficial arrangement that he had thus far kept to his end on, and he didn't make such requests except when necessary to avoid pushing her patience too far, so she inevitably would cave and gave whatever assistance he asked for.

However, the seer was currently in no condition to move of her own volition. Nor was Alucard entirely certain how safe it would be to transport her about with her injuries and what sort of accommodations those injuries would require. Attempting to move her out of the country and overseas without drawing attention would be tricky to arrange. Alucard didn't have much faith in Liam's capability to properly protect the human, but when he discovered that she was missing, the territorial Elder would certainly start searching for her with whatever resources he had accumulated with his socializing and connections among humans of note. Iscariot also wasn't about to relent on their attempts to kill the humans. Even with as much recovery as Anderson was now looking at, it wouldn't take very long to regroup and report his mission as a failure, so they'll be attempting to watch for signs of where she was spirited off to. Until Mercedes was able at least stabilized and able to move about on her own, getting her and her son out of the country safely and without drawing attention would be nearly impossible.

But given those options ruled out, Alucard was left with uncertainty on what to do with the two humans to keep them safe for the immediate future while he and his servants dealt with Iscariot.

Though today's fight was ultimately a success- Iscariot's headquarters for the East Coast was destroyed, they had lost tens of millions of dollars in property, a large number of operatives were slaughtered, and the seer and her son were still alive- Alucard was still not pleased with the outcome. It had been a messier altercation than expected, Anderson and his new recruits were still at large, they had learned very little of Iscariot's actual plans, and the seer had nearly died. Alucard wanted the next fight to be a resounding victory that would put an end to the Catholics' current plot amidst their seemingly unending machinations.

How exactly he and his servants would do so was what was under consideration, as Iscariot was funded by the deep pockets of the Vatican and therefore recovered from their losses far too quickly for Alucard's liking.

As had crossed his mind on more than a few occasions, the progenitor of vampires was sorely tempted to strike at the corrupt, festering heart of the problem by going after Iscariot's home base in Italy.

Except the Catholics had had centuries to fortify themselves in that viper's nest, the odds were obscenely stacked in their favor against even someone like himself, and it would be a logistical nightmare to attempt to make any sort of attack against the Vatican.

As entertaining and time-passing as killing operatives and trouncing Iscariot's plans when he got wind of them was, however, Alucard was growing bored with the repetition of it all and exasperated with not making more than marginal headway. Even the idea of an assault on Iscariot's home base was beginning to take on a more appealing light.

Such an endeavor would take a great deal of planning and preparation if it was to have even the chance of success, and therefore was not applicable to the current dilemma. Alucard contemplated methods he and his servants could go about trying to root out Iscariot's current schemes so a plan of attack could be made with more immediately attainable results.

Or rather, Alucard was trying to keep his thoughts focused along such practical lines.

He was finding it more difficult than it normally would be because every minute or two he was using his sight to check on Mercedes's progress in surgery as the operation continued to drag on.

Try as he might to convince himself otherwise, if he was willing to be honest with himself, Alucard would have to admit he had never been very good at extinguishing an interest in a woman once that particular sort of flame began to burn.

Such instances dotted his personal history, and some of those occurrences had caused the progenitor of vampires no end of trouble. A select few of which had become infamous in story. All such incidents, however, known by some fictional twist or managed to be kept private, only served to illustrate that point. Like a moth to a flame, the ageless and damned vampire was drawn to and coveted the beguiling warmth of an intriguing beautiful woman on those occasions when he found one who rose to meet his desire for a worthy distraction from the memories of the past.

A desire that was growing ever more difficult to fulfill as Alucard's expectations grew ever more demanding in what he wanted from a companion. A result from centuries of dealing with the many ultimately incompatible women he had taken on a whim, then unsuccessfully tried to refine into more palatable companions when their novelty had worn off, and had led to the vampire reevaluating his opinions on what he was and was not willing to tolerate in future choices.

Alucard had been free of Hellsing's control for a few decades now and he had since bedded countless scores of women before draining them. Unabashedly and unrepentantly done so as such was his prerogative as the first and ever reigning king of his dark kind. However, Alucard had yet to actually pursue a female beyond a night's temporary relief from his hungers as thus far he found all severely lacking in this modern era. His patience was far too thin these days to revert back to making attempts to mold a proper companion for himself out of women who were hardly striking a fleeting spark of interest within himself.

Mercedes had accidentally struck such a spark with her dauntless courage in the face of attackers, including himself, and her unique abilities coming to his attention. The seer had unwittingly fanned that spark into a kindled flame by possessing an alluring body that housed a mind that had not automatically deemed him some horrific monster, nor some romanticized character from the books written about himself. Along with all the other qualities that he could say made her as a worthy ally.

It made for an intriguing living puzzle to unravel and Alucard had found more layers of interest the more he tried to solve the unusual woman. Mercedes had a noble bearing that demanded respect as a result of her upbringing. Yet she didn't fall prey to many of the pitfalls of nobility. She wasn't bound by stifling convention. Nor did she behave as a self-absorbed aristocrat's daughter normally would, among some of the common short comings of the noble classes. And while she broke away from her family to an extent for reasons to do with upholding her own personal values, she was a fiercely devoted mother willing to make a metaphorical deal with a devil like himself to protect her son. She was a focused, brutally astute and resourceful woman.

Tempestuous and irreverent as she could be, and he well and truly was at his tolerance limit for her magic tricks after whatever enchantment was currently still aching upon his chest with its faintly lit brand, Alucard's thoughts obstinately gravitated towards Mercedes's more estimable qualities when he thought of her.

As harshly as the vampire had accused the seer of misunderstanding himself despite all her academic and first-hand knowledge; he had realized after leaving her apartment and hearing her musings that, while her opinions were not entirely accurate, she had understood more than he thought. And between what he had heard of her thoughts, read within her letter, and subsequently rationally considered, Alucard had realized that he had in turn significantly misunderstood her despite what he had otherwise learned and observed of her.

That letter was currently tucked away safely inside one of boots, his energy extended to grant it the same invulnerability his coffin possessed so that it would remain undamaged should it need be delivered. Alucard could easily remember the message word for word if destroyed, but it would not be the same to her family as reading it for themselves. The letter had read:

 _Valarie,_

 _If you're reading this letter, there's a vampire who just delivered it to you, along with Xander._

 _First, Chibi, don't use your powers on Alucard. It likely won't work and he is an associate of mine that I am entrusting to protect Xander. Using your powers on one of my allies, no matter how sarcastic or short-tempered he may be when you meet, is not honorable. If Alucard's delivering this letter, he's had a –Very - rough morning and you need to give the vampire a little more patience than you usually give people._

 _With that said, the short version of what has happened is that I had a vision of the fanatic group Iscariot attacking Xander and myself, killing us both by making use of their special operative, a priest by the name of Alexander Anderson. I asked the vampire before you for his aid to stop my vision from coming true because he has a great deal of experience in fighting Iscariot and I knew our chances of survival were highest by working with him._

 _If you are reading this, then our collective best efforts to avert my vision failed. I am dead, but Xander is alive._

 _Please contact Liam first and foremost. He'll take care of any details in arranging my funeral, notifying my mother's family, and seeing to Xander's long-term care with my passing. I have asked for Xander to be brought to you, instead of directly to Liam, as you're his legal temporary guardian and Alucard is not on positive terms with Liam and the Elders. I do not wish to see any further conflicts resulting because I died despite my and Alucard's best efforts._

 _Make sure Liam knows those are my wishes, as I know he will be distraught and not thinking very clearly when he hears the news. I do not want further conflicts arising because of this. Whatever past differences they had, we are all on the same side of this conflict and Alucard did his best to help keep me alive. Let Liam know I apologize for not telling him of this threat, but I couldn't bring myself to risk him sharing this fate after all he has done for Xander and myself. Xander needs at least one person who loves him left alive to watch over him after the dust of this conflict settles. I know Liam will do what is in Xander's best interests. He always has, and I am trusting him to continue doing so._

 _Please let Xander know I love him, more than my own life, and I am sorry I will not be there as he grows, but I am so very proud of him for being the wonderful little gentleman he is growing into being. I have every confidence he will grow up to be a fine young man who will make his mother proud._

 _And please know that I love you too, Val. You have always been there for us and I couldn't have asked for a better sister. My magic chest is still in Xander's closet. I expect you and Liam to keep it safe until Xander is old enough to rightly inherit it. Until then, keep up your studies. I know you'll make me proud of you too._

 _If possible, for either yourself or Liam, please also retrieve Tukiko san's sword and Fumiko's painting so that Xander can inherit those as well. Make certain he knows just how valuable they were to me, and how beloved he has been to so many family members. Even if we cannot be there to remind him of his duties in person, we will be always be watching over him as best as we can. We leave behind these reminders and resources to help him through this life, with the hope that many future generations will live on through him._

 _Also, if you can manage to pick your jaw up and stop drooling over the vampire before you, or speak through your tears shed for my death, (whichever of the two reactions I'm sure you're having right now) please thank Alucard for the aid he gave and for keeping my son alive when I would not have been able to on my own. I appreciate more than words can express that he aided someone who was nearly a stranger to him, that he has kept to his word as he has if you are reading this. I wish only the best for the enemy of my enemy who proved to be a worthy ally._

 _Lastly, to all my beloved family left behind, I ask only this of you. Don't spend too long mourning my death. Creation cannot exist without Destruction; the Light cannot exist without the Dark._

 _Tukiko san taught me that Universal Lesson. He taught me everything in life must have balance. The only thing that can never be taken from a person is their honor. The only true immortality a person can have is through the legacy of their family. And the only way to have everlasting peace is by making peace with one's inner self._

 _I died as I lived, upholding to my responsibilities in the fashion I deemed most honorable, trying to keep those I love safe. I have no regrets, except that I wasn't strong enough to survive this fight. But I have every confidence that I will find peace in the afterlife if my death has kept my family alive. Nothing comes without cost. You, my legacy, are worth this price I made the conscious choice of risking having to pay and I can confidently face the Divine in the afterlife with that knowledge to give me courage to face my judgment._

 _I know you all will be strong enough to survive my death. I know I will leave you all with the knowledge in my heart that you will remember those Universal Lessons we all must learn. Embrace your lives with love, courage and, most of all, honor._

 _With all my love, until we someday meet again,_

 _Mercedes_

For a vampire several centuries old, when most women Alucard encountered fell into easily defined categories that made the individuals all blur together as extensions of the same personas; a woman who didn't slip into one of those dismissible roles so easily- who could throw even himself off guard, cause him to rethink his initial impressions or assumptions, make him have to actively contemplate how to attempt pursuing her, face the actuality of impending possible death as bravely as she had the foreknowledge of its potential, and attempt with even her last words to keep further conflicts from arising and ease the distress of those left behind, instead of writing some self-pitying farewell or recrimination towards those left behind- was a challenging prospect of an entirely acceptable nature that was difficult to ignore or let walk away.

Despite all those qualities and his desire to pursue her because of personal interest, the progenitor of vampires had also noticed that beyond that undeniably strong front she presented, there was a certain fragility to Mercedes. She had been hurt in the past; lost people she loved, vampires included. Though she attempted to hide how deeply it hurt her, Alucard had seen cracks in her defenses. He had seen how she was driving herself so hard because of her guilt, anger and fear. He knew better than most how powerful those things could be; how far they could motivate a person to protect what they felt was worth protecting… And how deeply one could spiral into becoming something they hadn't initially set out to become because of them.

The magic-wielding seer was walking a very similar path he once walked, and something about that was unsettling to the Vampire King. He didn't want her to make the same mistakes he made and he had a feeling she was just a few more traumatic incidents away from crossing a point of no return.

This fight with Anderson had confirmed that which he had been theorizing before. Already, after only a few short years, Mercedes's body was clearly starting to be effected by her use of dark magic. Walter and Seras wouldn't notice as they didn't know the heiress before this morning, but Alucard had noticed something very disturbing while speaking with her and trying to keep her awake. Her eyes had been retaining a golden tint to them even when her energy wasn't being raised up, they hadn't returned to a purely brown color, and her canines were about a quarter inch longer than they formerly were. He had been able to sense Mercedes summoning and sustaining a massive amount of dark energy while attempting to protect herself and her son from Anderson, and it had affected her more than her previous moderate and short bursts of energy wielding.

Humans weren't meant to channel such forces, especially not repeatedly, without having consequences resulting. Perhaps those effects to her eyes and teeth would fade by the time she woke up, but they might not. Either way, they were only symptoms of a deeper lying problem.

And every time she summoned dark energy, every time she let herself become a conduit for it as she had, she was going to risk those effects taking hold for longer, risk them becoming an inescapable and permanent part of her existence.

While Mercedes making the conscious choice to sacrifice a part of her humanity to have the power to protect the rest of it and those she loved was an acceptable state of being, accidentally slipping into a hollow existence that was lacking any humanity and purpose outside destroying for the sake of destroying that which one hated was not something Alucard could condone or allow to happen. It was something that took him a very long time to learn to differentiate between and choose between. He wanted to make certain Mercedes knew the difference between the two and understood just what sort of decision her actions were going to lead to her needing to make if she continued as she did… A significant part of himself didn't want her to make that decision uninformed and alone as he had had to do… And though it was acceptable for her to walk that path in a certain fashion, and he was fairly confident she possessed the fortitude to not slip into the latter destructive path, a part of him wanted to protect her from walking down either path at all, keep her from needing to risk the consequences of tampering with the powers of darkness.

'Goddamn that woman!' Alucard swore in his mind after a short time had passed with such distracted split attention.

Alucard grudgingly conceded to himself that his attraction wasn't going to be easily suppressed to keep this matter strictly business, though he might try to convince himself that he was capable of doing so without trouble. He had realized that could be a complication when he had made his decision to stay and protect Mercedes and her son from Iscariot because that self-deprecating side had partially played into his decision, as much as he tried to consciously deny it.

That had been a large part of the reason Alucard had been so intent to eradicate the threat Iscariot and Anderson posed as quickly as he could and then leave the country immediately afterward. As much as he had tried to keep that small part of his mind silenced, Alucard recognized the potential trouble it posed from past occasions when it had risen up. The progenitor of vampires had known it was better to remove himself from the temptation and further irritations, telling himself that such distance would eventually smother out the intrigue the unconventional heiress had stirred within himself and she would be kept safe from further danger by not having association with himself.

The best laid plans rarely survived encounters with the enemy.

'She is certainly making my stay in this cesspool country far more problematic than it should have been… And I have the feeling she is only going to bring more complications in the future. Mercedes had better realize how fortunate she is that I find her existence worthwhile enough to make the efforts I have to keep her fragile mortal life from being snuffed out.'

The progenitor of vampires was psychically intuitive to some degree, a skilled telepath, and he was highly intelligent. Alucard was capable of almost instantaneously rationalizing the outcomes of events by cause and effect with various factors coming into play, and how psychology plays into how opponents react to given circumstances. Even when events didn't happen as Alucard had planned, his many keen skills allowed him to rapidly adapt and turn the unexpected into his favor almost invariably so that it looked like he had been aware of the change in circumstances beforehand and had been plotting for it.

It was a very rare occasion that Alucard was bested. Even those occasions had ultimately failed to be anything beyond a minor setback as he still existed on this earth after all these centuries and so many attempts on enemies' parts to change that. Even when defeated by the Hellsing family, they had been unable to kill him. They had been resigned to instead imprison him and only give him release as a slave to serve their causes under the restrictive binds their enchantments could create. And the progenitor of vampires had eventually found an opening to break free of that imprisonment, coming out of the experience with the acquisition of one of his most skilled servants to date and even stronger powers of his own at his command.

Alucard's mental skills and vampiric abilities were to such an extent beyond most adversaries' comprehension that many thought he possessed some sort of omniscience and failed to properly approach an attack against him because they had no idea how to attack such a being. Alucard didn't mind allowing that misperception to widely circulate- such fearful speculation was indeed useful in many respects.

But for all his many attributes derived from the forces of darkness that he was master of, in reality Alucard was not a fortune teller, seer or other sort of being with the ability to tap into the future at will.

However, in this instance, his irritable and cynical musings about the future were about to be proven correct with apposite timing.

Alucard felt an insistent mental prod from Seras. He had parted from his servants barely half an hour ago. Alucard raised an eyebrow in amusement, wondering why she was trying to reach him telepathically, rather than with the cell phones to maintain an appearance of normalcy.

'If Police Girl is trying to get my attention to say they're already having trouble keeping the boy entertained and doesn't want him to overhear such complaints, I'll never allow them to hear the end of this.'

As it turned out, that wasn't at all why Seras was trying to get his attention.

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A/N: First off, thank you to Un-Metaphorical Grapevine for the brief but positive review. It reminded me that I needed to update.

To everyone else, I apologize that it's been a little over two weeks, which was a week longer than planned. Within a day of getting home from my sister's wedding craziness, I had some rather upsetting family news come in, and I was needing to attend to those matters. Life can be a big ball of suck sometimes. However, wedding went well, and family matters were tended to.

Here's a new chapter, though, and I am attempting to write more, especially because I'm nearly out of the ones I had from the start or written since then. Writer's block is still killing my creativity, stress and juggling responsibilities isn't helping. But we'll see what happens. Hope people enjoy. Last few chapters got over a hundred visitors each, but you readers have been even quieter than usual, so I'm starting to wonder if that means you're upset with the new chapters and just coming back to see if the story will eventually be redeemed. Let me know what you think, good or bad, and hopefully it'll help spark some inspiration to write more. Have a great weekend everyone.


	29. Chapter 29 All The Wards Are Activated

Author's Note: Alright, back after six weeks absence. Let me just say that I know I'm terrible for leaving this sitting for six weeks. I'm terrible, throw the rotten fruits and veggies if you must. Let's just leave it as life has been very, very busy, with many responsibilities dominating my attention.

That said, here's the next two chapters to (hopefully) make up for it. We get to find out what's going on with the side crews in Chapter 29, and then back to Alucard and Mercedes in Chapter 30 to wrap things up at the hospital. There's two chapters following that will be extricating the team from Philadelphia, a small battle taking place in the process. Then we're officially kicking off the second arc, which will be promising several fights as the team is forced to stay on the move, and a great deal more shenanigans.

Also, as originally stated, this fic was meant to start unraveling Alucard's past. We got glimpses in the first arc that there's more than meets the eye to the stories told, but there's several layers to peel back in order to connect historical Vlad to Stoker's Dracula, and then to Hellsing's Alucard. It's not going to be a joy trip for the characters, but hopefully you readers will be entertained.

Despite a great deal of silence from readers on whatever keeps bringing you folks back to read more chapters (and a bit of negativity from a new reviewer, which I'm not going back a rewriting over a dozen chapters to suit your tastes), I was pleasantly surprised when I finally logged back in to see the views had jumped by over 1.5 thousand in the last six weeks! Wow! And the counts for various countries viewing remained consistently through the chapters, so I know people are reading this through. Let me know what you folks are looking forward to in the second arc, as it's now underway in being written.

Yes, U-M Grapevine, I am actively trying to cut dialogue down a bit. I appreciate the feedback you gave, which was consistently with some given by another reviewer whose feedback I have come to appreciate.

And ChibiDiceBotch, thanks for your reviews. Appreciated as always, and your most recent reminded me that I needed to get my butt back over here to fanfic land so i wasn't leaving people hanging. I'm trying really hard NOT to be that writer, and failing spectacularly the last few months. Again, I apologize to everyone.  
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Chapter Twenty-Nine

All the Wards are Activated

After leaving Mercedes's apartment, Seras and Walter found themselves stuck in morning rush hour traffic made worse by emergency vehicles attempting to cut through the ocean of cars on the highway to get to the disaster in Center City. Xander was in the back seat of the SUV they had appropriated from Iscariot and still sleeping soundly. His guardian canine lay quietly on the floor beside him in her shadow state, ever watchful for danger and staying out of sight from those passing by in the neighboring lanes.

Walter was at the wheel of the car, having had more experience driving in American vehicles and their backward version of street layouts.

Seras was in the passenger seat, trying to get a GPS to work to perhaps find them a quicker back road to take into the city, as they were unfamiliar with the layout of Philadelphia. As she waited for the GPS to find a signal and finally load, Seras was talking to Walter in a rather chipper fashion, trying to puzzle out something that had made her rather curious yet very confused.

"…And all his behavior before we engaged Iscariot aside, there was Master's rather hasty exit from the main battle taking place…"

"That wasn't terribly odd, Miss Seras. Master Alucard was chasing after Anderson," Walter said neutrally, though he was inwardly getting frustrated with Americans' inabilities to drive properly on the highway. There were no accidents on the highway itself, and using one's accelerator to drive the proper 50 miles an hour was no more difficult than driving 20 miles an hour.

"Well, yes, I realize that," Seras said. "But there was the other operatives to also deal with, yet he left them to our care rather than taking a few minutes to dispose of them."

"We did have the objective of keeping Anderson away from Ms. Dreux-Brézé and her son, for precisely the reason that came to pass," Walter reminded the younger vampire. "Even disengaging as quickly as he did, Master Alucard nearly didn't arrive in time to keep Anderson from killing her."

"Yes, I realize that." Seras gave the uncooperative GPS an annoyed shake, though that wasn't the least helpful in getting it to work. "And Master was in an absolute fury when we arrived because of that."

"How do you judge such?" Walter asked with a raised eyebrow.

"The fact that Master threw Anderson through a building, stabbed him with his own swords, attacked as a flock of bats, heedless of witnesses or daylight, and then impaled and castrated him seemed a pretty clear indicator he was furious," Seras said candidly.

"Master Alucard is often rather brutal when fighting with Anderson, especially as he has had such difficulty in ending the priest's life."

"Yes, but how often does Master resort to such conspicuous means as transforming into animals when his guns are far more effective?" Seras pointed out. "Only when something has truly roused his anger and he wishes to make a point. Not to mention, handling Anderson's blades does hurt Master, even if it isn't as painful for him as it is for us. And Master does try to keep potential identifying links to his past to a minimum, so he usually avoids certain distinct methods of retribution when dealing with enemies, unless his anger is truly roused and he reverts back to more medieval mindsets and punishments. That all paints a picture of Master taking things personal for Anderson harming Ms. Mercedes."

"You truly have quite the fanciful imagination, Miss Seras," Walter said wryly, an amused smirk openly gracing his handsome ageless face. "Master Alucard has been growing increasingly more frustrated with Anderson over the years. Father Anderson had just severely injured an ally, despite Master Alucard attempting to divert that from happening. We both know how much Master Alucard dislikes it when Anderson causes complications to his plans. That it was Ms. Dreux-Brézé injured was incidental to the fact she was an ally."

"And I suppose you'll call it my imagination that they were speaking to one another in such a strange fashion before Ms. Mercedes passed out?" Seras asked, somewhat affronted and giving up on the GPS for the moment.

"Master Alucard was attempting to keep her conscious," Walter replied with impassive assessment of the situation.

"He was certainly doing it in a rather odd fashion," Seras stated with certainty. "He was even calling her by pet names and 'Lady Mercedes'."

"He frequently calls you 'Police Girl' and me 'Angel of Death'," Walter pointed out. "Calling the heiress of a noble-heritage family by such is hardly abnormal for his habit of impersonalizing associations."

"Even if done in jest, Master calling someone who is nobility by even a lesser noble title is a rather strong sign of respect, not depersonalization," Seras countered. "Especially when said noble family no longer has their titles. And did you not hear the last name he called her by before she passed out?"

"Master Alucard called her 'Seer'," Walter replied. "And as she is such, it is again well in line with how he usually terms those who work with him."

"Ah, you didn't hear the attempt he made with telepathy to keep her awake," Seras observed matter-of-factly.

Walter spared a puzzled glance in Seras's direction. "No. I wasn't aware there was one."

"I'm sorry, Walter," Seras apologized sincerely, blushing faintly in embarrassment. "I forget sometimes that your skills in such aren't as strong as mine as some of your others are better than mine and you are older."

"I may be older as a vampire, but you have had a longer time being a true vampire than myself," Walter replied without rancor to the fact. "What did Master Alucard say to Ms. Dreux-Brézé?"

"He asked if his strange comments on some sort of show revision would be acceptable, and called her 'draga mea'," Seras said with a victorious smile alighting her pretty features, increasing the deceptively innocent appearance of the young vampire.

Walter raised an eyebrow but did not respond.

"And the last thing Ms. Mercedes addressed Master as was 'mein schwarze sonne'," Seras continued cheerfully. "I don't know what 'schwarze sonne' means, but I do know 'mein' is German for 'my' or 'mine'."

"'Schwarze Sonne' means 'black sun'," Walter said informatively. "It is an occult symbol in several ancient pagan cultures. Depending on sources read, and which culture is being referenced, it is, most simply explained, reportedly representative of life and death, or complete destruction and an absence of life, or eternal life that knows no death. The symbol was brought back to a limited public consciousness during the Nazi regime, as it was greatly favored by the higher ranking members of the SS and their occult practices. The meaning of the symbol, however, was kept secret. Since then, a number of books and media have utilized the phrase or concept in some fashion or other."

"Did you learn all that when fighting against the Nazis and their occult projects?" Seras asked, impressed by his quick recitation.

"Primarily," Walter conceded, a fraction of a smirk returning. "To fight one's enemies, one must know them. As I said, it was a popular symbol in those days for them. However, it is currently illegal in Germany for the symbol to be printed or depicted in any fashion, despite most of the populace not knowing its actual significance."

"Hm… Well, Nazis aside," Seras said thoughtfully, "that doesn't sound exactly inappropriate for Master, especially when the nickname is coming from a pagan priestess… Though why a French noble would say such in German is curious…"

"Ms. Dreux-Brézé also said 'Domn meu', which means 'My Lord', in response to Master Alucard calling her 'Lady Mercedes'. She apparently has a habit of likewise giving allies a name that reflects them, and seems to have formed a mutual respect with Master Alucard," Walter said neutrally. "While an infrequent happening, it does happen from time to time that Master Alucard comes to respect a human. Despite their differences and parting, Master Alucard and Sir Integra had a strong respect for one another when they were master and servant. She would occasionally call him 'Count' or 'Prince', and he would call her 'Countess'. So the terms with Ms. Dreux-Brézé does not elevate the situation as you suggest. And as the schwarze sonne was a symbol revitalized by Germans, it is likely she simply uses the term in that language for that reason. Neither are indicatory of your theory."

"But she said 'mein schwarze sonne', not simply 'schwarze sonne'," Seras argued. The former police officer was absolutely determined to examine every bit of evidence for these circumstances, from every angle, to get to the bottom of just what her Master had been up to during the last week he had been spending with the young woman. "That's a distinctly possessive address. One that can't be dismissed as a formality between those of noble blood. Just as Master calling her 'draga mea' is distinctly possessive and personal. If I remember correctly, it means 'my love' in old Romanian. Such is not the least like the sorts of nicknames Master usually gives. When was the last time that you heard Master call anyone something that intimate?!"

Seras continued without pausing for an answer, "Never, that's when. As you said, he only ever called Sir Integra 'Countess', not even 'My Countess'; nor did she ever call him 'my Count'. And with the furious mood Master has been in, I've been thinking that perhaps their comments on some sort of show are actually some sort of reference to something else entirely. Perhaps they were agreeing to change their views on what they were previously planning on for their interactions before this fight. Master's comments of such, and him referring to her as his love, combined with the fact that he said it telepathically, wanting to keep such private, and that Ms. Mercedes replied as she did, all seems rather like the way lovers would speak with one another during such a distressing moment as one of them being possibly on the verge of death and wanting to make things right with one another in case that person does die so there are no regrets."

Walter had no immediate rebuttal for that point.

"And there was what Ms. Mercedes said while I was on the phone with Master," Seras added the evidence to her growing argument. "According to Master, seers are unable to lie. Which was part of how he knew she was having a true vision of this attack when she recounted it to himself. Even if Master says she was being misleading in what she related to cause retaliatory mischief because he had done such while waiting for Iscariot to make their move and was bored, there had to be some truth in the statements for her to have been able to say them. He explained some of those things, but avoided the subject of what she had meant by he had had her pinned and necked her by saying he didn't need to give a play by play account of every interaction they had had throughout the week and we needed to concentrate on more pressing business."

"Whatever took place, it truly is none of our business, Miss Seras," Walter said properly.

Seras wasn't fooled for a moment. She had known Walter for long enough that she could tell he was just as curious as she was about that bit of information evaded and left unexplained, especially after pointing out the possessive nicknames the two had used, even if he wouldn't break propriety to admit it.

"And if one was to notice such things," Seras said slyly with a wider, canine revealing grin, "as one with women's intuition and a police officer's training does, one might notice that Master does tend to have a preference in what his brides look like. Those he has chosen to have as more than just prolonged lovers have had dark hair and eyes, pale complexions, with fuller figures instead of being anorexic sticks. Miss Lucy Westenra, who supposedly reminded him strongly of his first wife, had such features, rather than the fair features often depicted in movies. Mrs. Harker had such features, even if she was one Master only targeted in revenge for the killing of Miss Lucy. His eldest of brides when Hellsing defeated him reportedly had such features, rather than the fairer features the fictional book mentions. And Ms. Mercedes has all of those.

"Master also likes women who are strong willed and fighters. His first wife supported his war campaigns, even going into exile with him at the beginning of their marriage. His second wife married him well knowing she was marrying a prince who was at constant war and had a vicious reputation, as they had met while he was being held with due accommodations as a political prisoner. His brides before Hellsing defeated him were all women who were willing to fight Hellsing to the death, rather than betray their Master. And even though Master didn't necessarily desire Mrs. Harker, he did respect her for the fight she put up after he forced her to take his blood. Ms. Mercedes certainly proved today that she was such a woman who would rather fight and die than run or give herself over to an enemy."

Seras blushed noticeably as she added, "And given the bag I accidentally stumbled across, I would hazard a guess that Ms. Mercedes isn't without inventiveness outside of battle as well… Which we both know Master would enjoy."

"Miss Seras!" Walter reprimanded, casting a stern look her way.

"Y-yes, I know," Seras replied quickly, blush increasing. "It isn't proper to make guesses at Master's private affairs. I was only pointing it out."

"Such observations would be better left unsaid," Walter said with a shake of his head.

"Alright, well there is also this, Walter," Seras said more seriously. "While Master wouldn't ever likely admit it directly, I think perhaps he doesn't mind the fact that she has a child. Whatever has been going on, keeping that little boy safe has been high in Master's priorities. He also knew what his favorite toy was and where all his things were kept, which means he's been becoming acquainted with the boy in more than just a passing manner. Though he rarely mentions it even in passing, and I think it's so because it's uncomfortable for him to think about it, Master did once have three children of his own when he was human. Two of whom were sons. His eldest son was by his first wife, their only child together.

"There's no portraits of them as children for me to be certain of it, but I think perhaps he might be behaving so oddly not just because he has discovered a woman who resembles his first and lost wife in appearance and personality, but because there is a young child involved who may or may not resemble one of those sons who died. Little Xander has very Eastern European features like his biological father's with his pale skin, aquiline features, and black hair. Features not entirely dissimilar from Master's when he was human, except that the boy has blue eyes, rather than the green that Master had. Master sacrificed more than just his humanity when he became a vampire; he sacrificed his ties to most of his human family to become what he now is and not drag them into his choice. Perhaps Master, after all these years, regrets his decision and wishes to reclaim what he once gave up, even if he can't ever be human again or do so specifically with those he left behind."

Walter frowned slightly to the continued comparisons made, reaching up with one hand to adjust his monocle in a gesture born of habit. "You forget one thing in all these suppositions you are making, Police Girl, that definitively proves Master Alucard's interest is strictly professional."

"And what thing is that?" Seras asked, not seeing any fault to her logic.

"It has never been in Master Alucard's nature to not pursue a woman he desires, regardless of potential negative consequences," Walter said stoically. "That was what led to hostilities from some nobility when he took his first wife who was considered below his station, renewed hostilities among some nobility when he took his second wife as a political maneuver, hostilities with locals and it being known he was a vampire when he took some of his vampiric brides, and what led to his imprisonment with Hellsing because of his interest in Miss Westenra and then strike against Mrs. Harker. Master Alucard is above reproach in most any other situation because he proceeds with superior logic to the best ends one could expect from the circumstances. However, and forgive me for saying such so bluntly, we both know a woman Master Alucard takes an interest in is inarguably a potent bane to his rational thinking that he all too willingly consumes when it presents itself.

"If, as you supposition, Master Alucard had any sort of interest in the young woman beyond an ally, a sudden whim to reform a family for himself as he once had, he would not simply leave the country once business was concluded. Master Alucard quite clearly stated before we engaged Iscariot that, once we were finished with the battle, we were returning to England without Ms. Dreux-Brézé and her son. He has also stated, now that Ms. Dreux-Brézé has been injured and Anderson and his new recruits managed to escape, that he plans to leave them with family or a friend who can be trusted for their care and hiding. He did not state that we would be permanently taking over her care or bringing them back to England with us. Therefore, it is safe to conclude that his interests are strictly professional and his behavior is motivated by such."

Seras pouted and gave a sigh, her excitement rapidly deflating with that inarguable point. "You have a point there, Walter… Perhaps my hope that Master might finally find a lady and have some distraction from constant battling got the best of me. I maintain that spending as much time obsessed on fighting Iscariot and dealing with other vampires as Master does is not healthy for him, even if it is serving a purpose. But I can't argue that Master wouldn't simply leave as he plans to if he had any interest that wasn't professional…"

"Precisely," Walter said simply.

"So who do you think Master will have us bring Ms. Mercedes and little Xander to when she is able to be moved from the hospital?" Seras asked, changing the subject to distract herself from her disappointment at being proved wrong.

"That I am uncertain of," Walter replied. "Even with my research, I am not as informed as to her connections as Master Alucard is, so I don't believe I could make a proper guess. Her family includes some doctors, so he may wish to bring her and her son to them."

"They wouldn't be very capable of handling Iscariot though," Seras pointed out. The GPS in her lap finally made a small beeping noise to announce that a signal had been found. "About bloody time!" The young vampire began typing in their desired destination as she continued speaking, "And surely Ms. Mercedes's family would be one of the first places Anderson and Iscariot will look for them if they decide to pursue ending her life."

"Indeed," Walter agreed. "As I said, I am not certain where Master Alucard will decide to bring them as her connection with the local vampires is compromised with the unknown extent of today's treachery."

"They might be safer away from connections Iscariot know they have and with those that are capable of keeping them safe…" Seras said with an impish smile returning.

"Miss Seras, if you are indicating that we suggest to Master Alucard that we keep them with us indefinitely, I think such blatant attempted matchmaking would be a poorly received idea," Walter refused immediately. "Not for the least of reasons that, while we are indeed better capable of dealing with Iscariot, in the same respect we have a rather volatile lifestyle and are frequently engaging Iscariot in fights. Such would hardly be conducive to a healing atmosphere for Ms. Dreux-Brézé and a safe one for the child."

"Given the circumstances, there isn't exactly any place…" Seras's response was cut short as a flash of prismatic energy slammed into her.

A second burst of magic hit Walter within a second of the first. His quick reflexes and senses had given him barely enough time to see the energy hurtling towards them and slam on the breaks to avoid an accident, and then a horrific fiery sensation was flowing through his veins.

A third flash of magical light was seen in the backseat, though it died momentarily.

Artemis began to grumble and growl quietly at the surge of energy pulsing through the car. The lights in the front seat flashed for several seconds and neither vampire was able to move or speak.

The sigil laced lights disappeared after several seconds, leaving both vampires deeply unnerved and sore. The hell hound quieted down when the energy dissipated, but was now keeping her golden gaze on the two vampires in the front seat.

Walter and Seras glanced over at each other in question, ignoring the honking vehicles around them. Walter's hellfire eyes widened as he saw a faintly glowing symbol on Seras's prominent chest. Seras glanced down when she noticed the direction Walter was staring in and saw the symbol as well.

"W-what in the world?!" Seras exclaimed, finally recollecting her wits enough to manage that much. She rubbed frantically at the mark, her ample breasts shaking with the movement, but the mark didn't disappear.

Walter could feel a small burning on his chest and knew without looking what he'd find should he investigate.

"It would seem," Walter said, somewhat shakily, "that we are under some sort of enchantment."

"What?!" Seras yelled, halting her attempts to wipe away the mark and looking up at the older vampire in fear. "From who? And how?"

"I am not certain," Walter replied. "Ms. Dreux-Brézé is an enchantress, but she is unconscious at the moment. Even were she not, it would not make sense for her to cast magic on allies while weakened, especially without warning. Iscariot has magic users, so it may be their doing somehow."

Seras's expression became even more worried. "Do you know what these symbols mean, Walter?"

"I do not," Walter admitted, stoic disposition slowly returning. He smoothed a few stray strands of his hair back with his palms, strands that had come loose while he had been jerking in pain from the magical energy. "They do not resemble those that were used to bind Master Alucard to Hellsing's service and my knowledge of sorcery is somewhat limited to only those areas I've needed to learn."

Walter realized they were stopped in the middle of the highway and tried to turn the key in the ignition to restart the car. He found that the key was still turned, but the car itself was no longer functioning for some inexplicable reason. He used his telekinesis to make the car's wheels roll and the blinkers light up to signal car trouble to get them to the shoulder of the highway.

As he did so, Walter said cautiously, not wanting to further alarm Seras, but becoming concerned himself, "I think it may be wise, Miss Seras, for you to take a look about and see if there are any signs of Iscariot's operatives in the area."

Seras nodded tentatively and stretched out her senses. After a minute of wary search, Seras finally sighed and retracted her psychic sight.

"I can't find anyone suspicious looking, Iscariot or not," Seras reported. "Why are we pulled over to the side of the road, Walter?"

Walter nodded once to her first comment and instead asked, "What options does the GPS have for getting us off the highway and to a quieter route? I believe we should make our way to such and then alert Master Alucard to what happened."

Seras glanced down at the forgotten GPS in her lap, only to find the screen once more malfunctioning. "Bloody hell! It's lost signal again and now the screen is on an error!"

"I am hardly surprised," Walter said dryly. "The car is not moving of its own volition either."

Seras's expression became panicked. "The car isn't working either? Now what are we going to do? I doubt we can move all this stuff and the little one in any fashion that won't draw attention from the humans around us! Someone could be coming for a fight at any moment and now we don't have normal means of travel?!"

Walter removed his cell phone from his pocket and saw it was not working. "Miss Seras, I don't suppose your cellular phone is operational, is it?"

Seras checked her phone and saw that it wasn't. "No! That's not working either! What the bloody hell is going on, Walter?!"

Walter saw movement in the backseat and glanced over his slender shoulder.

The shadowy form of the hellhound was shifting to the far back of the SUV and her jaws grew and became unhinged. Artemis proceeded to gulp down as a whole each of the suitcases, Seras's gun case, and Mercedes's chest of magic supplies. Golden eyes turned to the two vampires expectantly and the demonic dog gave them a small snuff, then looked at the child she was duty-bound to protect.

Walter and Seras exchanged glances and then looked into the backseat again.

"I suppose we can leave the car as stranded pedestrians and walk down the shoulder of the highway until we reach a discreet place to dematerialize into shadows ourselves," Walter finally said. "It is still early morning. So long as we stay in the shadows, no one should notice us. Once we reach Center City, if the guardian canine is willing and able, she can retrieve our belongings from the hotel room and we can then find a van as Master Alucard suggested for transporting Ms. Mercedes. While downtown, we will be able to find a payphone to call Master Alucard from and make him aware of this development."

Artemis gave another snuff and a nod of approval to the plan.

Seras nodded as well and both vampires exited the broken vehicle. Seras retrieved Xander from the back seat, carrying the bundled child in her arms and letting his head rest on her shoulder. Walter walked ahead of Seras, warily keeping watch for signs of attack and adjusting his gloves in case need arose to defend them with his most effective of weapons.

The hell hound slunk out of the car and darted in zig-zags along the shadows beneath cars moving on the highway to keep out of obvious sight.

When they reached a spot along the highway where there was a small stand of trees nearly ten minutes later, the vampires hopped the guard rail and entered the cover of those trees. The hell hound darted after them and came to a stop near Seras and Xander.

"Perhaps we should try reaching Master now with a telepathic poke?" Seras suggested, having had more time to think on the matter with a less panicked perspective. "Rather than wait until we are downtown?"

"That may be a wise course of action," Walter agreed. "Master Alucard may wish to issue a different order of action with this development."

Seras nodded and stretched out her senses. As the stronger of the two servants in mental powers, she had an easier time reaching her Master's consciousness for such things. After a brief bit of concentration, she felt her Master's presence and nudged at it with her mind, trying to get his attention.

"Yes, Police Girl?" Alucard's faintly entertained voice echoed in her mind after a few seconds of wait.

"Master," Seras said nervously, "there's been a bit of a complication to the plans."

"And that would be?"

"Well, you see, there was a strange surge of energy that hit Walter and I. I think it may have done something to Xander as well because there was a light in the back of the car, but he didn't react to it. Perhaps that was because he's in a hypnotic sleep. We now have these strange marks on our chests, but the boy doesn't, and all the electronics in the SUV, including the vehicle itself, malfunctioned. We had to-to…" Seras's rapid explanation fell stuttered into silence as she felt a fair amount of irritation suddenly on her Master's side of the mental connection. "M-master? What is it? Do you know what happened?"

Alucard was silent for several seconds. He finally asked in a perfectly neutral voice, "Where are you two and the boy right now?"

"We had to walk down the highway a little bit and are currently in the shelter of a stand of trees," Seras explained hesitantly. "Ms. Mercedes's hound did a nifty little trick of swallowing all the luggage, so we were able to not leave behind anything you ordered us to bring."

"I see…" There was a few seconds of silence. "And you said the magic affected the boy as well, but there is no symbol on him?"

"Yes, Master," Seras replied. "Master, do you know what is going on? Did it happen to you as well? Is this something done by Iscariot to try tracking us all down?"

"No, it was not done by Iscariot," Alucard replied stoically. "What were you and Walter's plans once reaching the cover?"

"We were going to shift to our shadow forms to make our way downtown as fast as possible and continue with your orders of retrieving our belongings by having the hound swallow those as well, and then appropriate the van for transportation. Unless you wish to alter those orders given the circumstances?"

"No, those orders remain. I will have further instructions for you by the time you are done."

"Master, do you know what just happened?" Seras asked insistently.

"Not precisely, but it was not Iscariot's doing and I do not believe that it will immediately impede our plans, so follow your orders as they are for the time being."

"Yes, my Master," Seras agreed, knowing not to argue with her Master when he used that sharper tone of voice. She felt Alucard break the telepathic connection and glanced over to Walter. "Master didn't seem more than momentarily surprised to hear what happened, and he said it wasn't Iscariot's doing."

"Did Master Alucard say what caused this occurrence?" Walter asked.

"No, he didn't, but I think he knows."

Walter nodded once. "And did Master Alucard say anything as to our directives?"

"They remain the same as before: retrieve our belongings and appropriate a van," Seras said. "He didn't voice disapproval of us doing so as we have reconsidered, so I think we can continue with that change. We are to let him know when we are finished and he'll have further orders for us then."

"Then let us get that task done," Walter said with a faint note of resignation.

"Do you think this had something to do with Ms. Mercedes?"

"If Master Alucard is saying it was not Iscariot, then it is fair to assume it was something by Ms. Dreux-Brézé's doing, as she is the only other magic user we know with involvement in these current circumstances," Walter said logically. "Whatever was done, if Master Alucard wishes us to continue with our orders, then that means it is not anything we should be terribly concerned with for the time being. When we rejoin Master Alucard, we can then find the appropriate moment to inquire further."

Seras nodded, only marginally appeased by that rationalization. The mark was still aching slightly on her chest and it was rather disconcerting.

Walter shifted into his shadow state. Seras followed a few seconds later, shifting Xander with herself to make it less conspicuous to carry the sleeping child. Both vampires and the hell hound started towards Center City as quickly as they could, using what long stretching shadows were available in the early morning light as cover.

.

.

.

Mercedes's best friend Val had seen the live reports being broadcasted on all news channels of the 'terrorist' attacks on the Archdiocese and at various locations around Philadelphia on the TV in the emergency room of the hospital her grandfather was currently checked into. Val had tried to reach Mercedes to find out if she was okay, as one of the newest sites reported to be attacked was Mercedes's apartment building and the building across from it, and had found she couldn't reach Mercedes. Val's phone had died before she could try calling a second time, having been left on all night to make calls to family as she waited for word on her grandfather's condition.

With worry already present from her grandfather being hospitalized, and then that development of not being able to reach her best friend, Val went outside for a smoke and to charge her phone in the car jack. Her grandparents had bought her the car, and part of the conditions for her getting to keep it was that people weren't allowed to smoke in it. As her grandparents didn't know she smoked, Val had left her phone charging while she smoked a distance away to keep any stray smoke from entering the vehicle and tipping her grandparents off to her secret bad habit.

Val was leaning against a fence and smoking the third in a chain of cigarettes to try calming her nerves, when a bright prismatic light came flying towards her and entered her chest. The young woman dropped her cigarette in shock. There was a momentary flare of brighter light and a warm sensation spreading through her body, following the course of her arteries and veins, and then the light disappeared.

Val stood stock still, gaze stuck on her busty, t-shirt covered chest in deep surprise.

And now this on top of everything else that had happened this morning…

"Oh fuck… oh fuck…" Val began to mutter in instantaneous fear. "The wards were activated… The wards were fucking activated!"

Val saw people looking in her direction as they walked towards the hospital and realized she was babbling out loud about things that were likely better not overheard. The redheaded human walked across the parking lot to where her car was currently idling, trying to keep herself from panicking as she considered the ramifications of the enchantments becoming active.

'Fuck, fuck, fucking fuckity fuck,' Val thought frantically, pulling open her car door and unplugging her phone from the charging cord. She punched the speed dial number for Mercedes's cell phone. 'Please, Mercedes, answer your gods-damned phone this time!'

Mercedes's phone went straight to voicemail.

"Son of a fucking whore!" Val yelled furiously at the phone as she hung up. "Christ crucified on the cross! You just got reamed out for turning your phone off yesterday, and now you did it again today?!"

Despite her outburst, Val was far more afraid of that lack of answer, especially as the wards had been activated. That didn't bode well for her best friend, nephew, and their state of wellbeing. And she knew that it had been caused by harm to one of them, as they were the only two besides herself with the wards in place and connected together.

"Bloody fucking hell," Val said more quietly. "Ok, think… Who else can I try to call and might know something?"

After a few seconds of thought, Val had a potential answer and slapped her palm to her forehead for not thinking of it immediately. "Liam! If anyone would know what the fuck is happening, and why the hell Mercedes's ward was activated, it's got to be Liam."

Val pulled up her contacts and found Liam's cell phone number. She dialed the number and, thankfully, it rang. 'Please, please, please, answer your fucking phone Liam!"

Liam answered on the seventh ring.

"Hello Valarie," Liam's voice was extremely strained. "I was going to call you shortly. Have you heard from Mercedes at all this morning?"

"No, I haven't heard from her since late yesterday afternoon. That is why I'm calling you," Val said in clipped tones, worry rising. "What the fuck is going on over there, Liam?!"

"I really do not have time to explain everything right now, Val," Liam replied. "But suffice it to say, there was a fight that took place between Iscariot and some vampires that were not mine."

"Yeah, no shit there was a fight! It's all over every news station!" Val said heatedly. "And fuck what the news casters say; I know that kind of damage isn't terrorists! And I haven't been able to reach Mercedes to find out if she's okay! And from your response, you don't know where she is either?!"

"No, I am attempting to find both her and Xander right now," Liam said. "The fight spread out from Center City and they disappeared during the chaos."

"What do you mean 'they disappeared during the chaos'?! How'd they even get involved in this mess?!"

"Val, I do not have time to waste trying to explain everything right now," Liam's voice became quite a bit flintier. "If you have not heard from Sunshine, I need to get off the phone with you so I can continue contacting those who can aid me in finding her. As it is, I was on the phone with her grandparents when you called. They have not heard from her either, her grandmother is in quite the panic from having seen the reports on the news as well, and I had to waste time trying to calm her and keep her from another heart attack. Time that should have been spent searching for Mercedes and Xander. I am doing everything in my power to locate my son and consort, for the sakes of all who care about them, so please allow me to do so."

"Well you had better step on it, Liam!" Val snapped back. "Her anti-vampire wards were just fucking activated, my neck sure as hell isn't sporting any bites, so clearly something has happened to one of them since they 'disappeared'!"

There was silence for a few seconds on the other line. Finally, Liam asked quietly, "Her wards were activated? Are you certain?"

"No, there are a million fucking reasons why a bright light would go hurtling into my chest and sending a wave of energy through me that I'm still feeling the tingly aftermaths of!" Val said sarcastically. "Yes I'm certain! So find a couple minutes to explain to me what the fuck is going on and why the fuck someone over there bit Mercedes or Xander!"

"Val, none of mine bit my Sunshine or my son, I can promise you that," Liam replied icily.

"If it wasn't one of yours, then who was it?!" Val asked relentlessly. "Stop acting like a cold Ventrue fuck and tell me what is going on, Liam! I love Mercedes and Xander just as much as you do! They're my family too! I have a right to know what the hell is going on! How did this happen?! Why weren't you keeping them safe like you're supposed to?!"

"I was trying to keep them safe!" Liam's voice actually raised to nearly a yell, the first time Val had ever heard such from the usually even-tempered Elder. "I had Davin and Marrick watching over her and Xander while I was dealing with the primary groups of enemies personally! Then, just as a group of Iscariot's special members broke away from the fray, the high-rise the other Elders and I were in exploded!"

Liam must have collected his fraying temper because his voice became more level. "I had to extricate myself and those who survived out of the rubble, and get us away before anyone could notice anything strange. While doing so, I lost track of exactly where the enemies were. They managed to make it to Mercedes' home and their damnable blessed weapons killed Davin and badly wounded Marrick. Marrick was barely alive enough from his injuries to use his powers to escape the enemy so he could then alert me to what happened. There was a fight between Iscariot and Mercedes, she was injured, and then the leader of the enemy vampires showed up and engaged Iscariot. Who exactly won was unknown as the fight ended and both parties disappeared before I arrived, but we were fairly certain it was the vampire that kidnapped her and Xander. If her wards have been activated, then it confirms he did. That vampire is not someone friendly to the Elders and if he has Sunshine and Xander, and the wards have been activated, it is all the more critical I find them as quickly as possible."

Val was quiet for several seconds, having been stunned by the news that Davin was dead. She was also even more worried now with the news that Mercedes had been injured before the wards were even activated.

"Davin is dead?" Val asked in barely a whisper. "And Mercedes was injured? How bad was the injury?"

"Yes, Davin is dead and she and Marrick were injured," Liam said icily. "The extent of Mercedes's injuries are unknown as we have not found her yet, but from signs left behind, they were quite serious. Now, unless you have anything further to tell me, I need to turn my attention back to finding my family before any more members are lost. I assure you, I will call you when I have found and retrieved Mercedes and Xander."

"Yeah, okay…" Val said quietly. "Just get them back safely, Liam. Please."

"Believe when I say, I am doing everything I can."

The phone line went dead, leaving Val staring at it blankly, with no answers or assurances to her fears and more worried questions piling up in her mind by the second.


	30. Chapter 30 Hidden Scars and Private Oath

Chapter Thirty

Hidden Scars and a Private Oath

Alucard was extremely displeased to hear that his servants had been affected by whatever enchanted blood trap had been sprung. He was also somewhat surprised to hear that the magic had extended to the child as well, but that he was not bearing any mark. It prompted the question of just how many others this enchantment was now effecting, who those individuals may be, and what the purpose of the magic was. Mercedes was still in surgery and unconscious, so he was not about to get answers from the enchantress as to what her little trick was.

Alucard opened his psychic sight again to check on the status of her condition and the progress of the medical staff.

Mercedes's pant legs had been cut away and everything from mid-thigh down was bared; the deep slash on her left thigh needed stitching (that was currently being administered) and the cut on her right calf needed to be bandaged. It was the first time Alucard had seen Mercedes's legs and feet because she always wore long skirts with leggings underneath or pants, and stockings had always been present regardless of her attire. Deviant as he might be on some things, he still had certain engrained habits borne of his initial life as a prince, and she was an ally and a granddaughter of a noble. He had never used his psychic sight to spy on her when she went to another room to change out of her work or sleeping clothes and into the combat clothes.

And what Alucard saw on Mercedes's lower legs now that they were bared caused his eyes to blaze with fury and it took him more than a few seconds to get his temper firmly in check.

All along her feet and reaching up her lower legs to her knees was the unmistakable pink scarring of old burn marks, as though flames had engulfed both legs.

Innocent injuries from an accident could happen and leave their marks, especially as Mercedes was a human. But what sent a flare of rage through Alucard was that he quickly picked out darker scars laced up both sides of each calf. Each darker scar formed a word written in sharp, jagged script and the words were certainly not magical writing for some enchantment.

The words on the left leg were 'whore' and 'slut'; on the right were 'bitch', and 'cunt'.

Given the nature of the words, and what he observed of Mercedes thus far, Alucard had no doubts the injuries had been inflicted on her by an outside party.

By an outside party clearly extremely vengeful against Mercedes and who had desired to harm her in a permanent fashion.

And while the words and scarring itself wasn't for some enchantment, Alucard had a strong suspicion magic had played a part in how they were inflicted, as such marks were entirely unnatural in how they had formed. The burns hadn't eaten away at muscles or bone; the damage had uniformly been only deep enough burned through skin and fatty tissue to be permanent. The words, though jaggedly written by the culprit's own writing style, were still too flowing to have been burned into her flesh with some device. And that handwriting was not Mercedes's, which he had seen, so that only further indicated an outside party having inflicted the injuries.

Alucard's mind temporarily set aside questions of what enchantment was currently effecting his servants and himself. It was now running through what he knew of the young woman, his perfect memory recalling every conversation they had had and everything he had learned from other sources, looking for clues as to who might have inflicted such injuries at some point in her past.

When Alucard had asked her the night she had invited him in for tea if there was anyone she could think of who may wish to harm her, she had not given any potential leads. Someone who had permanently scarred her, likely with some sort of supernatural power, should surely have been mentioned.

Which could indicate the person who had inflicted the injuries was dead, or Mercedes had some reason to believe she was no longer in danger from that individual if they still lived.

If they were still alive, someone who could leave those sorts of vulgar injuries on the young woman would be the sort of person who might hire others to rape and murder her for some reason. Alucard had refrained from mentioning the first attack was not accidental, and Mercedes had never mentioned the injuries, but he strongly suspected the culprit could potentially be one and the same.

And if that was the case, said culprit might have given Iscariot information on Mercedes when their plans failed, trying to make her a target by the catholic fanatics. Or the events may have no relation. But Alucard's mind was now dead set on evaluating this new angle and its potential import as the timing of the two more recent attacks still seemed far too close to be unrelated and these past injuries were clearly no accident.

Mercedes had mentioned that evening over tea that she had some conflicts with family, and indicated such on other occasions. The tone of family issues indicated was more of philosophical and lifestyle conflicts, though. While they still had some apparent disagreements, Mercedes stated that she and her family did love each other and had mostly agreed to disagree. Which was clear from her continuing active contact with her family. She had also said her family's reaction to her visions was counseling, medications, and a great deal of prayer; which, while close-minded and unsupportive, was a far cry from inflicting scars of such a crude nature.

She had had more physical altercations with her mother, however, as indicated by Walter's research. Her mother was dead, suicide, which would indicate mental imbalance in the mother, and being dead would cause Mercedes not to view her as a potential threat any longer if her mother had been the one to cause the injuries. But the altercations with her mother had been documented as typical parental abuse, mostly hitting. Which, again, was a far cry from the burns. And Mercedes's family were not ones to use magic and in fact were quite against it. They would be hard pressed to inflict such wounds by some mundane means.

A fanatic priest of the church, like the family's personal priest could possibly have been, might have some training in magic like Anderson. He would also possibly have been able to give information about Mercedes to Iscariot before his death, as Alucard had wondered about, which was a connection to the current issue. But as he was in fact dead, he couldn't be connected to the rape and murder attempt. Nor was something causing burns such as those likely to be a power for a holy man, and such words were not ones most priests would use. If anything, he would have burned bible quotes or, at the most, "witch" or "heretic" into her as penance punishment.

Lastly, judging by the fact that the scars were a pale pink, not age-faded closer to white, Alucard realized the injury had happened in somewhat recent years, not in childhood.

Her immediate family and their priest fairly quickly ruled out, Alucard's mind went to the next suspect he could think of.

The ex-husband. While Mercedes had maintained contact with her family and spoke of them kindly enough, she had made it quite clear she had no contact with him and had no desire to change that. She had indicated on a few occasions the marriage had been troubled, though she had been circumspect in what sort of trouble that had been. Walter's research showed the divorce had been filed a very short time after their son had been born, which was unusual, and abuse was one of the reasons the divorce had been filed. Mercedes apparently had enough evidence to substantiate it that the judge had granted her rather harsh requests for severing all contact with her spouse. Such an injury would certainly fall in line with such evidence.

However, infidelity had also been listed as a reason for the divorce, and her husband had admitted to having another child on the way, so that could have been the reason for the haste to file the divorce and the abuse could have been of a more mundane nature as with her family.

Mercedes had not indicated that her ex-husband had any powers. She had also said that her husband was aware of her own powers and connection to vampires and was under threat of damage to himself should he attempt to break their divorce orders and make contact.

The latter of which was suspicious, but such a threat could have been in regards to preventing mundane abuse. But if such a threat was issued by Mercedes, and abuse along the lines of those scars had been caused by the ex-husband's doing, it was conceivable such a person would have hired the first attack on Mercedes to try to keep from being connected to the event, and may have little enough regard for his child to then involve Iscariot. Though the motive for such after silence over so many years was lacking, especially as the child had not been endangered in the first attack and the deadbeat father would then possibly have to raise and support his son.

Alucard wasn't ruling out the ex-husband yet, but his mind did continue to go over other possibilities.

Alucard recalled Liam becoming quite upset at the sarcastic mention of Mercedes being marked in any fashion. Alucard figured it was a safe bet that the Elder had knowledge of Mercedes's scars and their cause. And as a true vampire and Elder, it was theoretical that Liam might have somehow used his powers to cause them. With as protective as Liam was of Mercedes, however, and that she was still associating with the vampire she clearly stated was a close friend, he wasn't likely the one who had inflicted the scars.

Though knowledge of such vulgar injuries to a close friend may explain some of that extreme protectiveness the vampire had for the human.

Some, but not all.

Alucard was still quite certain that, while Mercedes deemed Liam a close friend with whom there was mutual trust and respect, Liam's interest in the magic-using heiress was quite a bit more. Mercedes's explanation for the American Elders' 'companions' was quite similar to Liam's territorial attitude in regards to her. From her reticence to speak of the matter, and Liam's as well, and some of their banter about rule breaking being acceptable or not that Alucard had heard after escorting her home to interrogate her, it seemed likely that they were both aware that the other's views on their interactions were coming from different standpoints, but were trying to maintain some sort of truce on the matter as they did not wish to argue with one another. Which was highly unlikely to be sustainable in the long run as such differing feelings or intentions couldn't be indefinitely ignored.

That aside, it was safe to say Liam wasn't the cause of the injuries.

Nor was it likely that those two vampires Mercedes once associated with, Tukiko and Fumiko, inflicted such injuries. She was too deeply grieved by their murders, and still bore clear attachment to both, for them to have been the culprits…

And thinking on those two vampires, Alucard remembered something very important he had seen in Mercedes's memories of them.

When she had met Tukiko, she had looked down to collect her dropped sketching equipment, and she had been wearing a knee-length dress that day. Her legs and feet, not covered in leggings and stockings, had not been scarred. The same was true for her 18th birthday, in which her memories showed she had been wearing a mid-thigh length skirt.

Which meant the injuries had happened sometime after that birthday and further narrowed down the timeline of when the injuries had occurred.

Alucard's knowledge of any other associations Mercedes might have had to try narrowing down the list of suspects was severely lacking, and so he found himself unable to determine the cause of the injuries and what potential connection they may have to current circumstances. That lacking information to the situation irritated him a great deal for a multitude of reasons.

Which meant that if he wished to gain answers and possibly solve this puzzle, and with Mercedes being in no condition to question, he would need inquire elsewhere.

While Alucard would normally judge it likely for family members to know of a disfiguring injury's causes, Mercedes's family didn't approve of magic. He was of the thought she may have tried to hide injuries caused by such from them so as not to incur greater disapproval of her own powers that she had tried to keep hidden as she grew older.

Liam undoubtedly had the needed information. Alucard was quite certain the territorial Elder would not divulge it to him willingly, however. Speaking with Liam would necessitate revealing he had Mercedes under his care and a probable fight ensuing as the Elder would wish to have her handed over. Alucard had already decided he wasn't giving the humans over to Liam's care, and he couldn't afford the delays in fighting Liam at the moment.

That left one source Alucard did know of that may know of the injuries and may possibly be persuaded to be forthcoming with information.

The best friend, Val. Mercedes trusted Val a great deal, even with her son's wellbeing should something happen to her. Mercedes had said she had known Val from when her ex-husband had been stationed in New Jersey and they were still married, which chronologically meant Val had been in her life long enough to have been a friend whenever it was that she was injured. At some point, Val was likely to have learned of the injuries and their cause.

As Alucard thought on that angle, he recalled again that Mercedes had said she was training her best friend in magic. Val may also have some knowledge as to what sort of enchantment had been sprung on himself and his servants. While Alucard wasn't sure how safe it would be to leave Mercedes in the care of Val and her family, at least temporarily contacting the magic using human would allow some potential answers to be given and give the child a familiar face to be around while said questioning took place.

Of course, Alucard had also heard Val mention Liam to Mercedes over the phone. Said friend knew of Mercedes's connections to the Elder. Contacting Val could run the risk of her subsequently reporting back to Liam afterwards if given the chance. Or refusing to speak with him at all, depending on just how friendly she was with the Elder. If her mind was similarly warded as Mercedes's and her son's, he wouldn't be able to use his powers to force cooperation and information out of her, and then erase her memory of the incident to cover his tracks. While he could always drain the human to gain the information, he didn't know if Mercedes's apprentice in magic had a similar blood trap laid on her and what might happen should he spring it a second time. He also didn't have any grudge against the human. She was also the best friend of the one he was trying to protect, and killing a sister figure would not be conducive to keeping Mercedes cooperative.

However, depending on how he played the situation out, as Val knew Mercedes had been in his company and he had the seer's letter with him that declared him an ally she trusted to protect them even further than she had been willing to deem Liam, he might be able to use her obviously-positive awareness of vampires in general to his advantage to gain her cooperation in providing the needed information for the sake of protecting her friend and the child. Which included protecting them from a least one known traitor amongst Liam's servants. He might be able to do so without her becoming a liability after the fact…

Alucard was thinking on how best to possibly approach the human to those ends when the female nurse tending Mercedes came out of the room.

"Sir. Ms. Bennet's surgery has been completed."

"And the status of her condition?" Alucard asked stoically.

"Intensive," the nurse admitted in a mousey voice, hands clasping in front of herself in a poor attempt to hide their faint trembling. "All her injuries have been tended, and she is being administered replacement blood, antibiotics as a preventative for infection, other necessary medicine to restore the quality of her blood and aid healing her injuries. We are also now administering mild pain killers so she is not in any undue pain while she rests, but not heavy enough to keep her from waking. Which is a concern at the moment, as she is in a certain type of coma. We have no reason to believe she has had brain damage done, but this being simply her body's way of handling the trauma while it heals. There is, however, no way to determine when she may wake up."

Alucard nodded once in understanding of the medical report.

"Also…" the nurse said. "While performing surgery, we noted that Ms. Bennet has some rather, odd, scars on her legs. While they are clearly not recent injuries, we are obligated to ask if you know how they came to be, if they were self-inflicted or caused by an outside party who may be a continued danger to Ms. Bennet."

"They were not self-inflicted," was the progenitor of vampires' definitive and sharp response. "As for how they came to be, the outside party is not a threat to Victoria any longer."

The nurse nodded quickly in acceptance of the answer.

Alucard stood and asked, "May I see Victoria now?"

The nurse nodded again. "Of course. The surgeon was just cleaning up a small laceration to her leg when I came out to inform you of her status. We'll be transferring her to a recovery ward as soon as a room is available."

Alucard nodded and removed his glasses. The nurse was clearly surprised to see flames in his eyes, but Alucard held up a hand to stop her from crying out. The nurse went still and Alucard began to rewrite her memories to keep such identifying marks from giving away who Mercedes was should others come inquiring.

"You recall seeing no scars on Ms. Bennet's legs," Alucard stated quietly.

"No scars…" the nurse murmured in a monotonous drone.

"You do not recall seeing a necklace around Ms. Bennet's neck."

"No necklace…" the nurse repeated.

"There were no problems with the machines while working on Ms. Bennet."

"No problems with the machines…"

"There has been no cause to think Ms. Bennet is anything but one of the unfortunate bystanders from the attack downtown."

"Just a bystander…"

"You will not clearly recall the appearance of Ms. Bennet or myself should any one inquire because you have been too busy tending victims of the incident downtown."

"Will not recall either clearly… Too busy…"

Alucard broke the trance as he replaced his glasses. The nurse blinked a few times and had a disoriented look on her face.

"Thank you, nurse," Alucard said pleasantly, "for taking such good care of Victoria's surgery."

"Y-yes," the nurse said uncertainly. "Um… You're welcome, sir."

Alucard left the nurse to recover her wits and went into the surgery room Mercedes was in. Her legs were now covered by a blanket and the surgeon was dumping the surgery instruments into a small bucket of disinfectant for the nurse to properly clean later.

Alucard repeated the process of altering the surgeon's memories and then sent her about her business to care for other injured patients. He tracked down the male nurse who had already left the room, under the pretense of looking for the cafeteria, and repeated the process a third time. The EMTs were not at the hospital at this time, but they had not seen the scars on Mercedes's legs, nor been witness to the machines malfunctioning as a result of the magic being cast. While they had seen her necklace, it wasn't likely they'd remember such with all the people they were rushing to attend and it was a risk that was unavoidable at this point.

Mercedes was moved to a recovery room while Alucard was hunting down the last nurse, so he made his way up to her new room. He sat in the chair next to her bed and began to contemplate what to do now about the entire convoluted situation this had become.

A later middle aged male nurse entered the room to check on the new patient and Alucard glanced over when the human gasped. Alucard could tell from the way that the man, whose name tag identified him as 'Geo', was staring at Mercedes that he knew her somehow. His exclamation of, "Mercedes?" left no room for doubt, especially as he checked the chart in hand, clearly confused to the different name that had been listed.

Alucard used his telekinesis to close the door behind the nurse, causing him to jump in surprise and then stare fearfully at the now standing vampire.

"W-what the hell is this? Who are you?" Geo asked. "How'd you do that?"

"The better questions would be how you know Mercedes and do you wish to see further harm take place?" Alucard replied stoically. He had a strong suspicion who the human was, remembering Mercedes mentioning a friend named Geo, but he needed confirmation as it wasn't impossible for him to be someone else with a connection to her.

The human's eyes widened comically further as he pointed at Alucard. "I know your voice! You were with Mercedes the other night!" Geo pointed to the unconscious woman, demanding, "Why is Mercedes in here? And why is the chart listing her as Victoria Bennet? What the hell happened to her?"

"I am not going to repeat myself again," Alucard warned, eyes narrowing. "How do you know her, and now also explain how you know I was with her the other night and how much of that you are aware of."

The human's instinctive concern, that bolstered his confidence to make such demands for answers, faltered. He glanced between Mercedes and the vampire a couple times, gulping nervously.

"M-Mercedes is a neighbor and friend of mine. I heard you two talking the other night when I passed by her apartment on my way in from work. We had a glass of wine together the next night and she mentioned you two were business associates working on some sort of issue to bring to a close some hostilities with a group of religious fanatics and a group she knew…" Geo paled further, hands clutching his charts tightly. "Oh my god! This has to do with the terrorist attacks on the Archdiocese, doesn't it?!"

Alucard quickly assessed the benefits and risks of answering the question and decided the benefits could very likely outweigh the risks. "Yes, it does," he admitted impassively. "The religious fanatics she mentioned are the ones who caused her injuries as retribution for her attempts to stop those hostilities. I am attempting to keep her safe from further harm by keeping her identity from being known while her injuries are being treated."

"Where's Xander?" Geo asked immediately. "Did something happen to the little guy too?"

"He is perfectly safe and currently under the protection of some associates of mine."

The human nodded a couple times, still clearly worried and not fully convinced. "And how'd you close the door like that?"

"Telekinesis."

"Uh-huh…" Geo glanced between Mercedes and Alucard again and then stated matter-of-factly, "You're a vampire, aren't you?"

Alucard raised an eyebrow. "And what makes you say that?"

"Because some of her other friends are as well," Geo said quickly in explanation, fearful for his own wellbeing now. "Liam, Davin and Sasha said their eyes were photosensitive or they were prone to migraines, so they always wore the glasses, but I've caught glimpses of the glowing eyes behind the shades on occasion. The whole goth and vampire-lifestyle thing with cosmetic fangs is huge around here, so perhaps the sharp teeth could be written off. But their reflexes are also inhumanly fast. Little guy knocked a wine glass over once, and Davin caught it a second later, well before it could smash on the floor. All he said was it was from all his martial arts training. I was okay with letting the excuses slide 'cause Mercedes doesn't get herself into trouble and she seemed comfortable with her fanged friends. But I'm not stupid. You're here with the dark shades and fangs and whooshing doors closed, which means the group she mentioned must be her friends like you, and I know they're vampires, which makes you one."

"A rather intelligent conclusion to come to," Alucard said stoically. "That, however, leads us to the problem of you knowing Mercedes is here when it needs to be kept secret, along with the fact that she is connected to my kind."

Geo gulped again and then rambled, "I-I'm not going to tell anyone Mercedes's here. She's a good friend of mine and my boyfriend and I don't want to see her hurt further. I've kept my mouth shut this long because whoever or whatever she wanted to associate with was her business and they seemed to genuinely care about her and the little guy too. I may be a bit uneasy with the supernatural, but I figured there was a hell of a lot more to vampires than books and movies say for Mercedes to care about them as she does. She said she trusted you and you two were working together, so that's a good enough voucher for me. I don't know what happened downtown, or who started what, and I don't need to know. I know Mercedes wouldn't side with people who are the bad guys. She'd fight for the people she thought were innocent to the very end. And you're trying to keep her and the little guy safe now, so I think it's a safe bet you'll keep doing it. I'm not going to say who she really is, what you are, or anything else that could put her in danger."

Alucard nodded once. "Then, perhaps, you might be able to aid me in making certain no further harm comes to her."

"…How?" Geo asked warily.

"I need to move her as soon as possible to a safe location so she won't be found," Alucard explained. "Obviously I can't leave the country with her in such a condition to bring her and her son to safe locations I know of where I am from. And my knowledge of people close to her and where might be safe for them is somewhat limited. I do know for a fact that those like myself would not be safe for them to be brought to, given current circumstances, and that her family would be one of the first places the fanatics will attempt to find her. That leaves me in quite the predicament as she will be in need of medical care and her son in need of such care as a child requires. A friend of hers may know where such a safe place may be and who can take care of them while I attempt to make certain this doesn't continue."

Geo nodded and looked down at the chart in his hands, then over at Mercedes. "May I check her injuries myself to see how bad they are and how much care they'll need?"

Alucard nodded once.

Geo kept an eye cautiously on the vampire as he walked over to the bed. The nurse carefully drew back the blanket covering Mercedes and checked the injury on her wrist, her arm, her ribs and her thigh. Geo frowned and replaced the blanket, expression contemplative as he glanced at the machines monitoring Mercedes's vital signs and then the chart.

"Well?" Alucard finally asked as the silence began to stretch.

"Well…" Geo said pensively. "Even though the puncture in Mercedes's arm is a serious injury, the surgeon handled it properly. And that's the worst of the injuries. All of the other lacerations managed to avoid any organs or arteries, which is good news. The surgeon noted that her breathing seems slightly labored and she wants to run scans to check Mercedes' ribs for cracks, but there were no signs of full breaks or damaged lungs. With surgery complete, it's going to be mostly keeping the bandages changed and her injuries clean. She could likely be moved someplace safely, so long as she's not jostled around and risking reopening the wounds.

"But she's going to need continuous fluids and some further blood replacements. Especially as the surgeon has her listed as being in a shock-induced coma, she'll need proper nutrients delivered to keep her healthy until she wakes up and can drink and eat again. She'll also need to stay hooked up to the monitors to make certain there's no sign of complications developing. The oxygen machine and catheter would need to stay with her as well, and the latter properly removed once she's awake. She's breathing on her own right now, but if she starts to take a dip, she could need the help so she doesn't suffer from deprivation. And while it's not seeming likely, if something does suddenly go wrong, she'd need access to proper medical equipment to counter it. Crash kit at the very least. She'll also need standard hospice care of bathing, muscle stimulation, aided movement, et cetera, while she's out like this to avoid complications arising from neglected hygiene or degeneration of bodily capabilities due to inactivity. When she wakes up, she'll need to start physical therapy to regain full use of the arm that was impaled."

Alucard nodded again and glanced at Mercedes, trying to decide how to accomplish all that given the limited options. Barring a complication developing, most of Mercedes's primary care sounded like things that could be managed by himself or his servants. Walter, for one, had had to tend to injured Hellsings on more than one occasion while in their employ.

"Are you certain that it wouldn't be safe to bring her to her family?" Geo ventured. "I know her great-uncle and great-aunt are both retired surgeons, and their daughter is a triage nurse. They'd be able to take care of any possible complications while she recovers."

"Quite certain," Alucard replied. "Those that injured her won't cease their attempts just because they failed once. Given that they know she was injured, her family would be one of the first places checked in search of her. Her family would not be able to keep her safe."

"And her fanged friends aren't able to keep her safe?" Geo asked.

"No," Alucard stated sharply, causing the human to flinch. "They were supposedly trying to keep her safe in the first place while I faced the enemy and they proved incapable of doing so. One of those sent to protect her betrayed their duty in the face of some of the enemies approaching, killing another of her protectors to make their escape, and left her and the boy to die. Had I not been pursuing the attackers as quickly as I could and arrived when I did, they would have both died. I will not entrust their care to the cretins here after such took place."

Geo paled at the idea of one of Mercedes's friends, whom he knew she trusted deeply, betraying her in such fashion. She did not give out her trust easily and he knew she was going to be devastated when she found out, especially if another friend was murdered in the process. After a minute of tense thought and silence, Geo asked thoughtfully, "What if she was kept safe somewhere near her family, where they'd be able to reach her if necessary in a medical emergency, but not actually with them?"

"How so?" Alucard asked neutrally.

"Mercedes has a house up north, a couple towns away from her grandparents in one direction and a few towns from her uncle and aunt in the other," Geo replied with an increasingly certain tone. "I'm not sure exactly how long of a drive it is to get to her family, but it might be an option to bring her there. She let my boyfriend and I borrow the house for a mini vacation last Christmas. Felix has been sick with cancer and we wanted a quiet getaway for the holidays without disruptions as we weren't sure at the time if he'd make it. Mercedes's place in the mountains, with as secluded as it is, was perfect for the quality time on a budget. Cuz it's in the middle of nowhere in north country, the house is fairly self-sustaining. There's a backup generator we had to use when a snow storm knocked the electricity out, so you could use that if you're so concerned about them trying to track her down and don't want to rack up the electric bill. She won't be happy about the bill to refill the tank, but she'd understand, all things considered. The place has its own well too, so it's not on a public water grid. It's summer time, so you wouldn't have to worry about it freezing over. If you're careful, no one would know you're there. Her bedroom would be big enough to hold what she needs for care. There are some basic stores and mom and pop shops in town, so stuff you need for the little guy would be available."

"That could potentially suffice as a temporary safe haven for them," Alucard agreed, contemplating the situation and what he remembered from Walter's intel. "How well do you know her friend, Valarie? The child will still need someone trustworthy and familiar to watch him while his mother is recovering."

"Val is his aunt for all intents and purposes. Mercedes calls Val her sister," Geo said without hesitation. "They're always doing stuff together as a family and I know Val is not someone who would risk their wellbeing. She loves them too much for that to happen."

"How can you be so certain of that, when I've already told you that her other 'trusted' friends deserted her when they were needed?"

Geo's eyes narrowed with that reprimanding tone used by the vampire. He said resolutely, "I know it because when we were all at the park one day shortly after I met Mercedes and Val, the little guy was playing with some other kids and went running after a ball that was mis-kicked, right into traffic. Val managed to reach him first, dove and grabbed him, rolling out of the street but getting her leg run over and broken in the process. She laughed it off while we called the paramedics, saying even worse was preferable if it kept her little nephew safe. Unlike whoever was supposed to protect them today, I know Valarie would give up her life for those two before letting them get hurt."

Alucard nodded again. "How much of the things she would need for care could be brought from this hospital with her and what would need be obtained once she has been moved?"

Geo had to think about that for several seconds, glancing at the machines and Mercedes's hospital bed. "Honestly? If you're willing to check her in under a false name and had something to do with what happened downtown, I'm gonna guess breaking a few more laws isn't playing into the assessment?"

"Not at this point," was the vampire's blunt agreement.

Geo sighed, though it sounded more contemplative than disapproving. "Well, I'm not sure how we could get it out of here without anyone noticing, but the machines and her bed could get rolled out. We have enough of them that a single set going missing wouldn't kill us. It'd be safe to pack a week or so worth of the necessary fluids and medicines that need to be administered into a cooler, though I'm not certain how I'm gonna explain that all away. More than that, it'd start getting really hard to feasibly pack and move, and keep fresh, so you'd need to get more elsewhere if she's out longer than that."

"I can arrange retrieving what she needs without you being involved if you make a list of what she needs, where to find and how much is needed of each, and how frequently it will all need be administered," Alucard said stoically. "I can likewise remove her from the hospital without attracting notice. I will also need to alter your memory so you don't recall any of this, as you know where I am taking her to and those like myself could retrieve that information if I don't."

Geo gave a nervous laugh, "Well, if you're going to mess with my memory anyway, can I ask who exactly you are and if it's going to hurt? Mercedes wouldn't give me your name and I've been a bit curious to find out since she and I talked."

"It won't hurt and my name is Alucard," the progenitor of vampires stated. "You'd know me better by the well-publicized name Bram Stocker used of 'Dracula'."

Geo gave another nervous laugh, eyeing Alucard warily. "Yeah, I had a bad feeling from the accent that might be the answer…" The nurse glanced down at Mercedes and said with strained humor, "You certainly aren't particular on who you call friends, are you sweetie? Pagans, gays, now vampires and Draculea himself… What's next? Werewolves? The swamp monster? Demons? Aliens?"

Geo shook his head as he gave her limp hand a small fond squeeze. "When you wake up and it's safe to talk, you owe me a full explanation of how you managed to get yourself involved in all this. I'll uncork a couple bottles of the Brazilian and we'll make a night of it out on the Time Warp, so you had better heal up quick and tall, dark and handsome over there had better make sure you come back home safe. You still have to marry Felix and I if he says yes like you said he would, so you can't go slipping off indefinitely on us."

Alucard raised an eyebrow, noting that Geo called him by the Latin version of his family name (which he used in his human life) and therefore knew his actual origins, but said nothing to the teasing comments made to the unconscious woman.

Geo sighed and gave Mercedes a pat on the hand. He looked back over to the vampire. "I need to resume my rounds before people start wondering where I am. I'll write up that list while I'm working and will have it to you as soon as I can."

"That would be appreciated," Alucard replied with a nod.

Geo nodded and gave a final worried glance in Mercedes's direction before crossing the room to leave. He paused before opening the door, glancing over to Alucard seriously. "And, just so we're clear, I meant what I said. You had better make sure Mercedes and Xander come back home safe. Even if you wipe my memories, I'll realize something happened to them with all the uproar this situation is causing and the fact that she's gone missing. True friends are hard to come by and, unlike whoever left her to get hurt like this, I'm of the same cut of cloth that Valarie is.

"While I've never said it to Mercedes, she's become the closest thing to a daughter I could have, and a better, more supportive daughter I could never ask for. It won't sit well with me to have her and the little one disappear. It may take a while, but I'll connect the dots and figure out what happened. I spent decades living in Europe and the UK, and my former husband and I liked to go hunting and were damned good shots. Got a few marksman championship awards from back in the day to prove that. No matter where you go running off to with my family, no matter if I'm a little past my prime, I'll hunt you down with everything I can manage. If you haven't kept them safe, I don't care who you are, I'll find out firsthand what a few dozen silver bullets riddling a vampire in the heart and brain in under a minute does to them."

Alucard gave a smirk at that bold threat and nodded. As the human wouldn't remember the exchange anyway, and therefore it would be a waste of time to enlighten him that such would be a futile gesture, he simply said, "Duly noted. When she is safely hidden somewhere and awake, I'll make her aware she should send you a message of some sort to assure you of her and the boy's safety. In the meantime, if Valarie is cooperative with these plans, I will have her send one once a secure connection can be created so we are not traced."

Geo nodded. "Sounds fair enough." And with that, the nurse left the room to continue his rounds and make the lists needed.

Alucard looked down at the heiress with a self-deprecating smile.

"You certainly do know how to inspire an intense loyalty among those who associate with you, Lady Mercedes…" The vampire's smile faded and he gently stroked a stray lock of dark hair away from her wan cheek. "…As true a sign of regality as those others you possess."

His smile disappeared entirely, face becoming uncommonly sober as his thoughts momentarily flickered to long ago, time-blurred memories of three other fine-featured and dark haired women who had been laid out in such fashion, though their breath and lives had been gone by the time he had been able to make it to their sides.

A singular sort of pain and anger flared in Alucard's mind with the memories of failing to reach them in time, though centuries of actively working to forget had effectively dulled some of the edge of those destructive emotions… The second and third women had been not only murdered, but maimed almost beyond recognition in the clumsy executions administered…

But the first, she hadn't been dead long enough to decay and had been pale as a sheet with lips as blue as Nordic fjords; like some ice queen who was only a moment away from awakening… Yet she would never awaken, never open those enchanting eyes again or smile her sweet smile again…

Despite his attempts to smother the memory, as he often smothered those memories, Alucard found that this situation was just too similar. Their faces, so very similar to one another, transposed themselves over one another, flickering from one woman's to the next, before finally remaining on the first's.

It was enough of a catalyst to let the memories rise up in his mind. He could remember a very specific time when those enchanting dark eyes framed by long lashes had flashed to a golden hue as Romanian words were yelled at him in a betrayed tone such as the one Mercedes used the night before, saying painfully similar things in recrimination as those beautiful full lips were twisted in anger.

 _"Vlad, what have you done?!"_

 _"No more than I needed to, to keep the boyars knowing their place! And you should remember your place before you so quickly question my actions!"_

 _"My place is by your side and supporting you, dragoste. Do not turn me into your enemy; you know I am not. But neither am I one of your boyars whom you can expect to obey your every word without question. I swore to love and support you in this life and in Heaven, but how can you expect me to support this?! This, this is how you plan to rule?! This is the worst kind of sin!"_

 _"The true sin would have been to let their sins go unpunished! To allow them and others to think that they can commit such sins without justice being meted out! God will forgive my acts as they were done to avenge my family and protect those who remain! To protect you and the children we will someday have from my enemies!"_

 _"This is not the way to protect us, Vlad! This is not…"_

 _"This is the ONLY way! Whether I want it or not, it is the way of war, Daciana! I am at war! I inherited poverty, war and a corrupted, broken kingdom! And the only way I can protect us is by acting in accordance!" Vlad remembered his younger self's voice taking on a faintly pleading note, anger lessening as his beloved looked at him in recrimination and a sliver of fear, tears beginning to slip down her porcelain smooth cheeks. You promised me you understood that, draga mea! You swore it! You swore you wouldn't turn your back on me while I do what I must to liberate my country and defend our Lord. So how can you now condemn my actions?! God Himself sends His angels to destroy those who disregard His laws, and He has given me the responsibility of protecting His laws in my country and from those who would deny His word. You, of all people, must be able to see that I do as I must! So what cause can you have to condemn my actions so?"_

 _"Because this, this is not God's will, Vlad! This was heinous! This was no better than what they did to your father and brother! This will not win you the people's love! This will not drive out the Turks! This will not bring peace! Things such as this will only cause fear and dissent among those who would follow you!"_

 _"This will incite fear, yes. But fear of being punished for one's sins helps sinners remember why they should not court such temptations! Just as God had to once wipe clean the earth and begin anew because sin had corrupted His children so deeply, so must I root out and destroy that which corrupts my land. My people have been enslaved, starved and abused by those who were supposed to rule and protect them. The entirety of my direct family, with the exception of my traitorous brother and the spineless coward in the monastery, have been murdered by those they trusted to advise and protect them. I had to make it unmistakably clear that I would not stand for such treachery and debasement. That I will not be taken unaware. That I will not fall to their plots. And when the people know their place, accept their place, they will behave in such fashions that do not require me to bring God's wrath down upon them. Then I can bring peace for those that remain."_

 _"…Peace cannot be bought with blood and fear, Dragoste… Peace can only come when people know they are safe and they have faith in those who lead them."_

 _"If such were true at all times, Daciana, I would not have the problems I now have, would I? Peace is well and good to speak of in such idealistic terms, but the reality is far different! My people will have faith that I will protect them, even from my own Boyars, when they find out what took place tonight. They will know that so long as they follow the laws I and God lay down, they will be kept safe from our enemies. I will protect my people as the situation demands and I will bring us peace eventually!"_

 _"There has to be another way, Vlad! This, tonight, this was not the work of God's chosen! This was monstrous work of one who has fallen prey to the devil's whispers!"_

A resounding crack of flesh meeting flesh echoed in Alucard's memory, the thump of a smaller body collapsing to the floor. He could almost feel the sting on his palm, though the slap had been delivered hundreds of years ago. The progenitor of vampires flinched at the memory, staring down at the hand that had struck out so viciously in a moment of anger, the hand that now gently held itself against a different cheek. And he could remember with aching clarity the wide eyes that stared up at him in shocked horror as he raged at her. Eyes that were so similar to those that were currently closed in unconsciousness, but had blazed at him the night before in a similar betrayed fashion when he had likewise raged at her.

 _"How dare you, woman?! After all I have done for you, all I have sacrificed for love of you, you forget your place and dare to speak to me in such fashion?! How dare you, Daciana, when all that I do is for the sake of my family, you, and our people?! My acts might be monstrous, but do you truly believe that I take pleasure in them? Is a man a monster when his monstrous acts are borne of necessity, not desire? How dare you speak to me in such fashion when you know better than that!"_

 _"Dragoste…" A pained whimper, then shuffling of heavy skirts as she stood to meet his gaze as levelly as she could. "…I did not say you took pleasure in the acts. I did not say you were a monster. Do not twist my words into something they never were. But your anger at all that has happened was permitted to cloud your judgment and tonight went beyond an act of Divine judgment. It was unnecessary violence and revenge. And that is not the work of God. It is the devil's work wrapped up in the guise of God." A hand reached out, cupping the face of an angry young ruler who didn't want to lose his rage. "I understand the difficulties before you and I know you must make horrible decisions."_

 _He pulled away, voice nearly snarling as he said, "You understand nothing, Daciana! Clearly you know so little, as you said such things as you did!"_

 _Golden eyes flash with anger, but quickly die down as she sighs, shaking her head. "Who better would understand than I, Vlad? Or do you forget what happened while you were away? What I suffered? You were not the only one left to protect themselves because of your father's decisions." A step forward as he turned his head from her, hands clenching at his sides. Her hand returning to his cheek, turning his face back to her. Eyes pleading as she speaks again. "I know how very steep the stakes are in this war for you, and subsequently for our family and our people. I know this, Dragoste. I understand your anger. And knowing this, I made my vows even still. I would hold to those vows for this life and the next, even if I wasn't bound to, for love of you. That is why I speak as I do now. Even if it brings your wrath on me for it, I cannot bear to see you walk this path blindly, I cannot hold my silence when I see you have erred, and I will tell you the truth as I see it. And if you cannot trust a seer's word as truth, if you cannot trust a wife's love as motivation to brave even your wrath, then who are you going to trust to guide you away from the edge when darkness has clouded your vision and you are in danger of slipping off the treacherous path God means for you to walk?"_

"Who indeed?" Alucard murmured in bitter self-recrimination to himself, and in knowing futility to the ghostly memory of his dead wife who could never again hear his chastising or chastise him in turn. "You were angry with me in that moment for what I had done, but you knew where my faults sprang from and were patient with me beyond what I deserved. You eventually came to see the truth of war and leadership's demands as time progressed. You were my guiding light when I was conflicted, protecting me from falling over that edge so many times… And despite being in the midst of war, things held such promise for those short years. But what of when you finally left me without your guidance? Left me without hope of reuniting with you even should I have died a man who strived, even in his imperfection, to defend his God and country? After all your words about the work of God and not damning oneself as one walks the line between justice and sin, you willingly committed the worst sin of all and damned yourself beyond hope.

"Whose work was that then? God's? Did he wish for me to be deprived of your guidance and love? Was I meant to fail before I even began because that was the curse of my family? Or was that in some way His final judgment, His punishment, for your unholy gifts, no matter the use you put them to? Was it the work of the Devil? Did he plot to take you from me so I could become lost and forsaken by God? Did he place you before me to tempt me to walking closer the line of justice and sin until I finally lost sight of what was truly right and wrong and fell over the edge? Your own work? For acting blindly in fear after having once reprimanded me for the very same? For falling prey to the plots of a God or a devil that you believed so deeply in? After all I did to keep others from discovering your cursed gift, after all I forgave you for love of you, for belief that you were right that it was how one used their gifts that made them sinners or god's chosen, you threw it all away. For what?"

Alucard shook his head, glancing away from the face of the woman who bore an uncanny resemblance to one he tried so hard to keep forgotten. He couldn't shake away the memory, hard as he was trying, and glanced back down, almost wishing he could say the words to the one he truly wished to speak them to. "Or maybe the fault was mine? For leaving you alone for those few minutes when you apparently needed me most? For not seeing how close to the edge you truly were and letting you throw yourself over it? For not following your wishes after your death because you had disregarded mine with that death? Or perhaps it is mine for being too weak hearted in the first place and not ending your life when I discovered what you were so that you could be sent to God purified and never have the chance to do as you did and eternally damn yourself…"

His mind haunted by the past and the similarities echoing now, Alucard looked down at the present day woman still fighting for the fragile life she possessed. Trying to shake the visage of the woman of the past, he reminded himself that this was not the same woman. This was the tempestuous woman who had managed to keep him from causing her harm and was brave enough to stand against his angriest tirades. Tirades that were considerably more intimidating now that he was a creature of darkness, instead of a mere man barely over two decades old. Yet, she was forgiving and wise enough to accept his aid when she had needed it and he had had time to calm himself enough to realize he wanted to continue extending it.

"Would that you had been born in an era when the world was shaped by the monarchy who had true reign over their countries, Mercedes. You would have made for a worthy princess to offer the world to. One who would not have thrown away everything in one fell swoop. Perhaps things might have been different with such a woman as you to rule by my side. Though such an era would not have been able to treat such wounds as these, so perhaps it is better you were not and I only now know you."

Alucard shook his head in self-rebuke as that pesky side of his mind tugged ever more demandingly, attempting to make more unwanted memories surface and draw his attention to the young woman in precarious ways. The progenitor of vampires had no intention of allowing those memories of betrayal and loss to be revived. He would not allow such memories to confuse the present by making foolish associations in his mind and clouding his judgment. It may have taken him centuries to fully absorb that lesson, but Alucard had learned that particular harsh lesson from past poor judgment and blind logic that had led to two other innocent women dying.

The memories were quickly shut away in that dark recess of his mind, where they could cause no further harm to his mental state.

Alucard's lingering thoughts on Mercedes, however, were not so easily dismissed.

The progenitor of vampires said wryly, in a tone that was lacking any true bite to the sarcasm, "God long ago forsook me to misery and death, and I have come to accept both that and my subsequent choices that transformed me into what I am now. But whatever you name the larger powers that hold sway over the universe, Seer- the powers that you pray to and draw your own power from- I'm becoming convinced they surely must have conspired amongst themselves and designed you specifically to be a puzzle that would alternately confuse, intrigue, or infuriate me at every turning of a piece to keep me from having any peace of mind and diverted from my other aims… At least until I solve your mysteries in their entirety… Unfortunately, that leaves us with the rather important question of- 'Just what exactly am I to do with you now?'"

Despite his musings, Alucard's ever-analyzing mind was already reaching the conclusion of what he needed to do if he was to have satisfaction for all his varied goals. He finalized a course of action for the situation, both for immediate plans and longer-reaching. Part of that included banishing back the past that couldn't be altered and concentrating on the future that laid before him to still effect.

Letting his hand remain against the side of her face, he leaned down and whispered in her ear, using his telepathy to send the words deeper into her mind in hope of reaching some part of her consciousness. "I know you must sleep to recover from this fall, Mercedes, but know that you must pick yourself back up once more. You cannot allow yourself to go slipping into a peaceful afterlife quite yet. Your legacy needs your strength returned to him more than even you could have known. After all you have survived, I know you have the will to survive even these injuries. I know you shall not disappoint my expectations of you, _draga mea_ , and so I will promise you these three immediate things. I will continue to keep your son safe from your enemies until you are capable of doing so again. I will guard your rest so you can regain your strength. And I will personally destroy any who would endanger your ability to do so."

Alucard placed a lingering kiss to Mercedes's cheek, the tender gesture contrasting to the fierce promise.

The progenitor of vampires whispered with inarguable finality, an expectant and knowing smirk creeping across his lips, "Sleep for as long as you need with those reassurances to grant you peace, Seer. When you are healed enough to face this world again, you shall awaken. And I will be awaiting the chance to commence the spirited challenge you put forth once you are recovered. As impassioned as you are, it is going to be a rare pleasure to engage you in that battle. I'm prepared to fight for every inch of the conquest if I must, so that in the end there can be no disputes over who the victor is.

"And make no mistake, my dear Mercedes, I will be the victor. Whatever magic tricks and gifts you possess will not change that eventuality. Whatever mental defenses and traps you have laid to keep out those who would claim you will not keep me at bay for long. I have employed such techniques for centuries and can find the cracks in them better than any other. So try as you like to hinder me if such is needed to keep your pride intact. You were closer to the truth than you know when you named me the Black Sun, and someday you'll fully comprehend what that means. You'll realize just how futile your efforts were once my sights are set on what I want, yet how inspiring they were to me that you would try. And when you do eventually concede that final defeat, I will be most generous in rewarding you for both your worthy resistance and your complete submission."

Alucard's grin shifted to a smile less challenging as he leaned forward and gave a fleeting, chaste kiss to Mercedes's lips, which were dry and lacking their usual dark hue with her blood loss.

Observing the heiress's perilous state of health again, the Vampire King made a final vehement promise in a barely audible whisper, knowing the volume made no difference to whether she may or may not hear him when his telepathy was also in use. "Just so long as you continue to see both sides that drive my actions, _draga mea_ , continue not to turn my protection aside without just cause, and continue to fight so honorably and viciously to survive in this cruel world, I can promise you one final thing. If you continue to do those things, _printesa mea_ , I give you my word that you will never again face your enemies alone and you will never again need to walk such treacherous paths without guidance. I will ensure that you gain the true strength and power you need to face down whomever would attempt to destroy you; and I will be by your side when they come, doing all that is in my vast dark power to ensure these injuries are the last scars you shall be forced to live with."


	31. Chapter 31 Indiscriminate Death

Author's Note: Wow! Um, thanks for all the reviews on the story and PMs well-wishing for a speedy recovery. You guys know how to make an author feel appreciated. Thanks! I'm still recovering; this is frankly the among the sickest I've ever been in my life. Yuck. Lesson learned on letting myself getting so run down! But I'm well enough to concentrate on writing a bit. I've got the next chapter for you folks, a little shorter than usual, but I didn't want to leave this hanging any longer. I do feel like a jerk for the long wait. I hope you'll be satisfied with this one for now, and I'll have a longer one coming in the next update.

And a side note, Mercedes' son still has the lisp/temporary speech impediment seen in the previous chapters. However, when writing more than a couple sentences like that, it was hard for even *me* to read what he was saying and understand it. I know I have not just native-English speaking people reading this, but a rather large percentage of English as a second language readers. I'm not going to put you folks through that torture, so just imagine a child's inability to form words properly with missing teeth if you want.

Shout outs to the new reviewers- DarkMessiah, RedMapleLeafinFall, AmethystPone. Much thanks to ChibiDiceBotch for the return to following and detailed reviews. And unholy hell! Kinigget came out of lurking. yay!

Chapter Thirty-One

Indiscriminate Death

Seras and Walter made it into Center City in relatively good time, using the smoking skyline first as a point of reference to guide their travel, and then using the billowing plumes as cover to travel through above the crowded downtown.

As Seras took note of the destruction they had helped to wreak, thought on the innocent civilians who had been caught in the cross fire, she felt a twinge of regret for allowing herself to commit such devastating acts. Even with the last decade of coming to a fair acceptance of her dark nature, the young vampire still wrestled with her desire to hang on to every bit of humanity that she could so she would not become some monster that she would ultimately loathe herself for being.

Seras was able to assuage her conscious by reminding herself that Iscariot had prompted this conflict. They would have gone about killing innocent people, like the small child she held cradled in her shadowy form. Anderson and the rest of Iscariot had killed countless innocents without ever feeling regret for doing so, their righteous beliefs smothering any conscious they might once have had. While it didn't fully justify the innocent people who died today, Seras told herself that whatever means it took to eradicate Iscariot's forces was worth the collateral damage, as they were subsequently keeping far more innocents from being someday murdered or forced to submit themselves to the Catholic's tyrannical beliefs.

The young vampire well knew that her Master would probably berate her for such sentimental rationalizations if he heard her making them. He generally looked at these ongoing battles in an "It's us versus them, we play this strictly to win, and all else are pawns" sort of mind set. Regardless of how her Master repeatedly tried to convince her to toughen her mind set, and Seras had made a great deal of progress in not allowing sympathies to cloud her judgment in these conflicts, she still felt lingering dismay after each fight that these sorts of measures and that sort of mindset were necessary.

Unless of course, as her Master never hesitated to point out, she wanted to simply stop fighting and let people like Iscariot rampage as they like. Let the lowlife punk vampires and pathetic artificial vampires make a mockery of their kind. Let other trash of all sorts accumulate and spread their filth.

Not a bloody chance in hell. Whatever regrets Seras had for the destruction they inflicted, those were paled in comparison to her determination to stand against such enemies as her Master ordered her. And while she may be a young vampire, Seras wasn't naive. She knew they weren't 'fighting the good fight' by any means, but she also didn't feel like they were fighting a bad fight. It's just how these things are. Fight, survive, try keep the damage to a minimum to avoid exposure, and try to enjoy the quiet moments when they came along.

Seras would have sighed had she been in her human form. She had been kept quite busy helping Pip and the Wild Geese with tracking down yet another branch of these underground artificial vampire operations and then destroying it. Their mission had been a success, but it seemed like they no sooner tracked down one, then another popped up.

And then there was the occasional rogue vampire who decided he'd be hot stuff and go making some army of ghouls in some half-baked plan for world domination. Or some heavily armed terrorist organization was preparing to cause some sort of attack against Queen and Country; and the Round Table Conference, through Sir Integra, was then hiring them to eliminate the threat in such thorough and devastating fashion with a minimum of friendly losses as only nosferatu of their caliber could.

Seras had been truly hoping that when they had returned from their last assignment, she'd have at least a few quiet days to spend with Pip before throwing themselves into some new dangerous situation. While Seras was fairly well guaranteed to make it out alive, her human boyfriend had no such sureties. And as much as Seras appreciated Pip's zeal and willingness to rush into battle and annihilate an enemy with sheer force or some extremely crafty trick he contrived, she was forever worrying in the back of her mind that this new assignment or that one would be the one that inevitably ended her boyfriend's fragile human life.

Pip always laughed off her concerns, reminding her that he was a mercenary. And not just any mercenary, but the leader of the Wild Geese who came from eight generations of such mercenary leaders. (Seras could almost fondly imagine Pip's French drawl in her head as she thought about his repeated protests to her worried chastising.) He had been born for such a life! He had long ago reconciled to the fact that he was going to eventually die in battle, so why fret over it, ma chere?

So what if he took some injuries? So what if he had lost an eye? (Seras could just imagine Pip's animated hand gestures as he brushed such things aside.) He had only proven he could take a sound ass kicking, pick himself back up from the hits, and then turn around and deliver even worse damage to those pussies who thought they'd knocked him out of the fight! He'd revel in the thrill of the fight, live up each day to its fullest, and die satisfied and with a grin on his face when that time finally came!

Hell, if he was especially lucky, he'd have enough time to light a cigarette and die with that sweet carcinogenic stick between his lips as a proper adieu to this fucked up world he had survived long enough to make his mark and find some pleasures in, but not dragged out so long as to be subjected to the negative repercussions of such things as his smoking.

Thinking of Pip's brash and lively attitude and arguments cheered Seras up some as they sped closer to the hotel their Master had been staying in.

No matter how frustrated she became, her free-spirited boyfriend managed to drag her out of despondency and remind her of the good times in life. It was that unwavering determination to enjoy life to its fullest, to rush into peril for the pay off, to revel in the thrill of a good fight, that had worn down her resistances and won her heart. Pip made no judgments on her for being a vampire, made no judgments on her for either her desire to retain some of her humanity or her willingness to embrace her darker nature. He simply accepted her as she was and was content to enjoy each day they had together as they came, without worrying about what was going to happen in the future.

Seras still worried about what would happen someday, dreaded the inevitable day her human boyfriend died, but his enthusiasm was contagious and she was able to mostly keep those worries to the back of her mind. Whenever that day came, it came. Until then, they had a lot of fun together as a counterpoint to their crazy lives.

Seras was looking forward to getting back to England once this current mess was resolved and getting back to those respites with Pip that would ultimately be limited in number and therefore all the more precious.

Seras and Walter reformed on top of the hotel skyscraper and Artemis darted down to Alucard's room, using his dark energy imbued in his coffin as a locating beacon to guide her.

Seras looked down at the bundled child in her arms and gave a wistful smile as she used her telekinesis to shift some ebony hair out of his face. She was nearly thirty now. She had been too young to think on the full consequences of becoming a vampire when the choice was made, but times like these made her loss of humanity poignant. She hadn't thought about having kids, or losing the ability to, and now that was a choice she'd never be able to make as it was decided from the moment she had accepted her master's dark gift.

'Well,' the young vampire thought, 'at least I can have the satisfaction of being around other people's children. Besides, I couldn't imagine Pip ever settling down enough to want children of his own. At least that will never be an argument for us to have!"

The child in her arms stirred then, stretching inside his cocoon of blankets and giving a small yawn. Seras shifted her hold to accommodate his movement, and the child made a grimacing face as he coughed. Sleep-heavy eyelids fluttered open as he muttered, "Yuck, what's that taste?"

Seras gave a friendly smile as she met the blue eyed gaze, then looked around, giving a sniff of the air. She quickly realized that he must be talking about the smoke from the destruction a few blocks over. She had sort of tuned out the scent and taste in the air after the exposure to it all morning, but it was certainly noticeable, even this high up.

Xander wasn't waiting for answers to his first question, though, stirring more and trying to look around. "Who are you? Where's mama? Where am I?" The child's eyes opened wide as he realized he was on top of a building and, through the smoky haze, could see the streets far below. His gaze darted back up to the blonde vampire, arms instinctively tightening around his stuffed dragon, "How'd we get up here? Who are you? What happened?"

Seras kept her smile in place and said cheerfully, "Hi there! Sorry you had to wake up in such a startling place, but we're friends of your mom's. There was a bit of a problem with some bad people, and while she's with my master to take care of something, we're keeping an eye on you. I'm Seras and this," she shifted so the boy could see her companion, "is Walter. Your friend, Artemis, is fetching a few things out of our hotel room, and then we're going to get you come breakfast and wait to meet up with you mom."

The little boy looked between the two vampires mistrustfully. "Are you kidnapping me?" Xander demanded, tone confident, almost imperious, despite his gap-toothed lisp. "Cuz if someone was makin' a problem, someone else would be bringing us to a safe house. I know the rules! If you are kidnapping me, you are gonna be in big trouble when mama and Liam find out!" His gaze turned on Walter as he asked bluntly, "Do you know who Liam is? He's a vampire like you and he's an Elder. So's Uncle Marrick and Uncle Davin and Uncle Henrick and Auntie Sasha and Auntie Janna and Auntie Natasia and Auntie Denissa. They are all elders and they'll get you and bring me home if you are trying to kidnap me!"

Walter raised an eyebrow and glanced over to Seras, who was looking askance to her elder on how to respond to this line of accusations and threats from a child.

"Walter," Seras said telepathically, "I don't think he's going to be so accommodating of this plan as Master thought."

"He does seem to have a strong attachment to the local vampires we were unaware of, and there's apparently some protocol we were not informed of in the rush to make new plans."

"What do we say? He's seeming very incensed at the moment, and I don't even know how to address him being the one to accuse us of kidnapping him."

"Noble children tend to jump to such conclusions; especially when such situations are a reality of their existence and then fail-safes against such seem to have deserted them. Even though he is almost belligerent, I would wager he is more scared than he is showing." Walter sighed and turned his gaze back to Xander. He said out loud, yet again a model of patience, "I assure you, young master, we are not trying to kidnap you; though I understand how this situation must look at the moment. Seras and I are servants of one of your mother's more recent friends. There was a fight that took place, the Elders are not capable of handling this problem, and so your mother is with our master and you have been temporarily placed within our care. As Seras said, we are simply retrieving our belongings, and have some of yours with us, and then we will bring you to a safe location after first getting you some breakfast. Your guardian canine will be able to reassure you that you were placed in our care when she returns momentarily."

The young boy continued to glare at them both. "You are breakin' the rules! And mama doesn' break the rules! When Liam finds out you are kidnapping me, you are in soooo much big, big trouble! And I'm gonna tell him you wasn' listenin' and you did something…"

Xander broke off his line of indignant threats suddenly, gaze darting to a spot on the building just moments before his beloved hell hound appeared.

"Artemis?!" he exclaimed as she took shape. "Artemis is really here?" The hell hound trotted over and then turned her lower half to shadows, raising herself up to be eye level with the boy and giving him a nuzzle to the side of his face. The confused child asked, hands going to cradle her head, "Artemis? Did mama tell these vampires to take me from home?"

Artemis looked between the vampires, then back to the boy, and gave a single short nod.

"She did?" the boy asked incredulously. To her nod, he asked, "She didn' ask Liam and Uncle Davin?"

The hell hound gave a brief shake of her head and then gave a consoling lick to the side of his face.

Xander frowned and sunk back into Seras' arms, looking at the vampires warily. His blue-eyed gaze returned to Artemis. "You sure mama wants them watchin' me, Artemis?"

Artemis glanced between them, gave a doggy shrug, then nodded.  
Xander turned his gaze up to Seras and demanded, with far more force than Seras would have thought a child could have, "Where's my mama and Liam and Uncles and Aunties right now? Why's she havin' you protect me? You not sayin' something. I can tell. You tell me now or I am summonin' Shadowsnake and sendin' him to Liam right now, and then you are in super big trouble when he get here."

Seras had to suppress a grimace at the thought of dealing with the Elder personally, and of telling the boy what happened to his mother. But, not seeing much choice, she said tentatively, "Some other vampires were sent by the Elders to watch you and your mom, but one of them killed the other and then left. Until we know who's safe to watch you, just how many servants of Liam's might be compromised, your mom wants us to watch you, instead of sending you to them."

"What?!" Xander exclaimed. "Who killed who? And where's mama then? Mama always tells me who my babysitters are. She could tell me before leaving with your master."

Seras sighed, saying with a frown, "The fight happened really quickly, I'm not sure who was killed, just that it was a vampire the Elders sent, and it was done by his companion. And your mom isn't here because she got hurt." Seeing the alarm on the child's face, she rushed to say, "She's going to be okay! I promise, she's going to be okay. But our master had to get her to a doctor to get bandaged up, so the arrangements got rushed and we didn't have time to wake you."

Xander's face scrunched up in a scowl and he looked at Artemis. "Artemis! Is mama gonna be okay?!"

Artemis hesitated, eyes closing. All present could sense pulses of energy coming from the demonic familiar.

Xander crossed his arms while he waited, reminding Seras very much of a miniature version of her Master when he was waiting for a battle report. She couldn't help the little smile pulling at her lips, despite the seriousness of the situation.

Artemis' five eyes opened and her gaze turned to the child. She gave a few nods, then licked the boy's face again.

"You sure mama is gonna be okay?" Xander asked again.

Artemis nodded more certainly.

The child huffed with annoyance and looked between the two vampires. "So what's for breakfast? I'm hungry."

Seras giggled at that, caught off guard by the child's sudden acceptance of the situation and the subject change.

"What's so funny?" Xander asked her.

"Nothing," Seras said, suppressing her laughter. "You're just one of the cutest little boys I've ever met."

"Well, duh," he said with sarcastic pride. "I'm a Dreux-Brézé boy. We're all cute. Granma says so."

"Does she now?" Seras asked.

"Oui!" Xander said with an assured nod. His stomach made a loud grumble then and he frowned. "So what's for breakfast? I'm hungry!"

"What does your mom usually give you for breakfast?' Seras asked.

"Seras," Walter interrupted sharply. "We have company coming."

Seras looked over to Walter, who was letting wires drop down, and then followed the direction of his gaze. She could just make out, about a quarter mile away and swiftly closing in, two figures in full tactical suits that hid their features. These were clearly not Iscariot soldiers, however, as they were wearing different uniforms and leaping from building top to building top with preternatural speed and agility. She hadn't seen the two vampires sent by the Elders, but she'd bet anything that these were other servants of Liam.

"Suggestions?" Seras asked mentally, not wanting to scare the child.

"There are only two, and given their state of protective armament, I'd say they were lesser vampires," Walter replied coolly. "I can handle them without your assistance. Retreat somewhere safe with the boy and his canine, I will join you when this is done."

Seras gave a dutiful nod and then looked down at the boy. "Alrighty, little guy. We might have some more bad guys coming. We need to get moving, okay?"

Xander furrowed his brows in confusion and looked in the same direction she did, but his human eyes couldn't yet pick up what the vampires saw.

Artemis, however, could. A rumbling growl came from the hell hound and she looked up at Seras with clear disagreement.

"Artemis, you heard my master," Seras said quickly, gaze darting between the hound and the incoming vampires. "We don't know who is an enemy or a friend among them. Xander isn't safe with them."

The hell hound let out a bark and growl, then jerked her head towards the vampires.

"Wait, who's coming?" Xander asked, tone becoming upset. "Is it Liam?"

"No, it is not Liam," Walter replied. "The figures are female."

"But it's vampires who know Liam?" Xander demanded as he pushed himself up a bit in Seras' arms to see further, squinting his eyes against the dawn light to try to see for himself.

"We can't know that for sure," Walter replied. "Seras, we have our orders, you need to…"

"I know those suits!" Xander interrupted with a shout. "Liam has one! Those are Elders!" He looked up at Seras accusingly, "I told you Liam send them for me!" An arm started waving in the direction of the Elders, as he yelled as loud as he could, "Hey! Over here! I'm over here! Help! Heeeellllp!"

The Elders clearly heard the child, becoming almost blurs as they raced all the faster to reach him.  
"Seras, go!" Walter commanded.

Seras was jolted out of her conflicted state of wanting to maybe speak with the Elders to try resolving this in some civil fashion, and wanting to follow orders to keep the child safe and hopefully not have to engage the with vampires reportedly much older than either her or Walter. "Yes, Walter!"

As she turned to leave, the boy started struggling in her arms. "Let me go!" Xander screeched, tears forming in his eyes. "Help! Help! They're trying to kidnap me! Help!"

Seras tightened her hold on the child and began dashing across the roof, preparing to leap off and shift into her shadow state. She was cut off, however, by the hell hound, who was snarling her displeasure with this turn of events. "Artemis! Stop it! You're not a child like your master is! You know we can't trust them! Let me get him out of here!"

"Xander!" A throaty female voice yelled with unbridled menace from behind Seras. "Release him this instant, you sorry excuses for vampires, or I'll put a pound of silver in you both before you can blink!"

"Auntie Janna!?" Xander yelled back, struggling all the harder. "Auntie Janna, help!"

Seras kept her grip on the child turned to view the threats and gauge just how much room to maneuver she now had.

The two figures had removed their helmets and were indeed females. One was Nordic in appearance, with platinum blonde hair tied back in a tight, braided bun and blazing blue eyes that were trained on Seras and the child, and her assault rifle was aimed for Seras' head. Seras recognized this vampire from the dossier on Ms. Dreux-Brézé; the Elder named Sasha DelCour, married to the another Elder, Davin DelCour.

The other Elder was darker featured, with short brown hair that fell around her face and equally furious red eyes, messy from the hasty helmet removal. In her hands were two large handguns, and they were pointing at Seras and Walter's heads. Seras couldn't remember pictures of this vampire, but the name Janna likely identified her as one of the brides of Henrick. Another Elder their charge called "Auntie".

"Give me my nephew this instant, you she-bitch, or you'll be meeting final death," the blonde snapped out icily.

'Identities confirmed,' Seras thought nervously. Further confirmed by the child.

"Let me go!" Xander was agreeing empathically, still trying to shove himself out of Seras's arms. "I want to go with Auntie Sasha and Auntie Janna! Let me go!"

"We are under orders not to release him into anyone's care, most especially yours," Walter replied with just as frigid a tone as the blonde's. "You are endangering the boy. Lower your weapons and retreat now, before you force me to act."

"Don't you hurt my Aunties!" Xander screamed at Walter, now hitting Seras' arms as he tried in vain to get away from her. His stuffed dragon, which had been slipping free as he struggled and loosened the blankets surrounding him, finally lost the battle to hang on. It went tumbling to the rooftop and rolled down the slope to the edge, where it was stopped by the small ledge. For once, though, Xander didn't take note of something happening to his beloved stuffed animal, too concentrated on trying to reach his surrogate aunts.

"We'll be fine, Xander," Sasha stated more calmly, almost soothingly, though her gaze never left Seras and the smirk that formed on her full cherry-red lips was nothing short of sadistic. "I promise. You don't need to worry about us any, sweetie." Xander's gaze snapped to the blonde Elder and his protests quieted as she continued speaking. "These pieces of shit are going to hand you over to us nice and slow. Otherwise, Auntie Sasha and Auntie Janna are going to riddle them with silver, then rip them limb from limb and pour holy water on the remains. And then we'll scoop up all the itty-bitty, teeny-tiny pieces and hand them over to Liam so he can put them back together like little rag dolls and show them what real torture is for trying to take family from us."

Seras couldn't help but cringe a little at that vehement threat thinly-veiled by sweet tones. There was every indication in that menacing gaze that the Elder meant every word. And it was surreally horrific that this was the sort of statement the Elder thought was appropriate to comfort the panicking child with. Even more horrifying to her, the child _did_ in fact seem comforted by the reassurance, giving solemn little nods and saying, "Okay, Auntie Sasha. Just bring me home to mama and Liam?"

"Of course, sweetie," Sasha said sweetly, still not meeting his gaze. "These lowlifes won't do anything stupid. You're coming home with us. Felicia is waiting and we're all going to have great big fun before ya know it. Maybe break out those new roller blades again and see about getting you rolling down the halls on your own."

"Seras, if those suited are Elders, that means those who allowed them to be attacked were also Elders, and therefore none are to be trusted," Walter stated mentally while the elder and child spoke, having caught a brief glimpse of the vampire fleeing Mercedes' apartment and swiftly drawing some disturbing conclusions. His wires tripled in number faster than the eye could follow and now, with his energy fully coursing through them, wavered as though a light breeze was blowing them. "Your orders remain unchanged. Shift now, go as fast as you can, and once clear alert Master Alucard."

"Like hell you're leaving with him!" Janna snarled out, clearly having intercepted the telepathic conversation.

Seras, however, had already foregone further argument on the matter and had shifted into a shadowy mass by the time the other vampire had finished her sentence. Artemis reacted without hesitation, speeding after the little boy and shadows.

The blonde, despite her threats, was apparently not willing to risk the child's life while he was enshrouded in shadows and swiftly lowered her rifle. "You can run, she-bitch, but I can chase you down," she shouted after the retreating shadows.

When Sasha made to follow after, though, she found herself abruptly stopped by micro-wires that had fallen around her. Janna was likewise trapped and her guns had been pulled from her hands.

"Sorry, ladies," Walter said, tone not the least apologetic. "Orders are orders. I'm sure you understand."

"Then I'm sure you'll understand this!" Janna snapped back. A moment later, her form shattered into a gigantic murder of ravens.

The ravens darted between the wires and then tried to sweep with supernatural speed towards Walter for an attack. However, the Angel of Death was able to keep them at bay with swift, deft flicks of his wires. A few of the ravens were sliced to pieces, but they disintegrated to shadows and reformed within seconds. While Walter was the faster of the two, Janna was nimble and fleet enough for her ravens-self to largely avoid the wires and some made it close enough to start trying to gouge his face with their talons and beaks.

While Walter was distracted keeping the ravens at bay, wires working all the more furiously to tear the birds away, Sasha's form shattered into a flock of merlins. The small hawks darted off in pursuit of Seras. The slower birds created by the younger Elder managed to nearly make it to the end of the roof before Walter drove back the raven assault enough to adjust his stance and act.

Then Sasha was likewise facing an assault of lethal wires. Several of the merlins were torn to shreds, feathers and chunks of bloody limbs flying across the roof. The rest screeched in agony, falling to the ground in a pile that reformed as Sasha. The Elder coughed up a mass of blood, pushing herself onto her side with an arm missing a large chunk of flesh from its bicep. Chunks of flesh were missing from spots on her torso and legs as well.

The ravens gave a unified screech of outrage and Walter found himself thrown several feet back from a wave of telekinetic energy hitting him. Before he could try to break free, he found himself going over the edge of the roof and hurtling down to the ground.

The ravens darted to the other Elder and reformed into the dark figure of Janna.

"Sasha," Janna said, heaving the younger vampire onto her feet. "Sasha, come on girl. Get your ass up and get out of here. I'll deal with this one and then go get Xander, but you need to get yourself out and fixed up."

Sasha shoved Janna away with a snarl. "Fuck that! I'm good!" Almost as soon as the words were out, though, she was bent over, coughing up more blood. "What the FUCK was his wires made of?"

"I don't know," Janna said, eyeing her companion worriedly. "But they hurt like a bitch, even for me. Get out and heal up. That's an order."

"You serious?! You're pulling rank on me right now?!" Sasha asked furious, wiping blood from her mouth. The edges of her injuries began to issue small wisps of smoke, the sun's early rays beginning their assault on the weakened Elder.

"You're not thinking clearly," Janna replied, tone going icy now. "You're starting to burn up. Get out of here or you're going to end up dead like Davin. He wouldn't want that."

Sasha let out an enraged, pained scream. Before she could act further, they were interrupted by dozens of glints of wires appearing to one side, and then the form of Walter ricocheting up over the side of the roof and towards them.

Janna shoved Sasha away, "Move, you idiot. That's an order!"

"What about…"

"Go!" Janna yelled, though she was now facing Walter again. Her shout once again sent a wave of telekinetic energy at Walter, but he was prepared for it this time and had wires anchoring him to the roof.

Sasha swallowed heavily and looked down at her numerous injuries, finally realizing Janna was right and she was starting to fry in the sun. Normally she could go a few hours without worrying about burning, but she had already taken too much damage and her body couldn't take anymore. She glanced back at Janna, who was unleashing one assault after another, holding the servant of Alucard back. Janna was strong and fast and smart; she could handle the whelp, surely. And she was no good to anyone dead, so perhaps retreat and finding a bite to eat to reconstitute herself was a wise idea.

Sasha let herself shift back to individual merlins and the little hawks went streaking off as fast as they could in search of likely prey.

Walter paid no mind to the retreating Elder; she was heading off in a different direction than Seras had.

No, he kept his attention on the banshee of an Elder he had left to deal with, on keeping himself properly anchored against her telekinetic assaults as they tried to dislodge him from the roof. He already had a pretty good idea how to deal with this sort of attack, he just had to wait for the opening that should be soon in coming.

When the Elder had to pause to draw in air to fuel the next round of screams, even though she didn't need it for breathing, Walter flicked his right wrist while sending a burst of energy through the wires, pushing them to move at their full speed.

They reached the Elder before she had even taken half a breath in and wrapped around her form.

Walter gave a vicious yank, a sanguine smirk forming as the wires met a slight resistance from the armor the Elder was wearing, but then cut through it.

The pieces hadn't even begun to fall, the Elder only just noticing her peril and eyes widening at the realization, as The Angel of Death gave another yank.

The wires sliced through even an Elder's flesh like a finely sharpened blade cut rice paper. In the space of a blink, as the armor pieces were just starting to shift out of place, Walter had already repeated the process three more times.

Janna tried to speak, but pieces of her lips fell away. A fraction of a second later, the Elder's enter form became chunks of flesh and bones, no bigger than an inch each, raining down on the roof.

Walter released his anchoring to the roof and sped to the messy remains of the Elder. He spotted unmistakable pieces of the tough, fibrous muscles that comprised a heart. Combined with the fact that there was no shadows forming, trying to reconstitute the Elder, he was fairly certain he had killed her.

That was confirmed a few seconds later, as the chunks began to smolder in the early morning light shining on them. Walter took a few steps back, but stayed to watch. Another minute passed, and the Elder was a blazing pile of foul smelling undead remains.

Walter sniffed his shirt and shook his head in disgust. "Such a stubborn scent to remove from clothing," he murmured, removing his monocle to clean off the greasy smoke residue. "I may spare myself the trouble and just dispose of this outfit."

Once his monocle was clean again and in its rightful place, he crossed the roof to where the child's stuffed dragon still lay. He picked it up, saying wryly, "I doubt I could say the same for you. Your owner is resentful enough as it is. I'm sure he'll be all the more tempestuous when he realizes you've gone missing." Tucking the giant plush toy under one arm, Walter reached out mentally to Seras.

"Yes, Walter?" Seras asked, voice a mix of dismay and stress.

"Are you alright?"

"J-just fine," Seras said. "Just trying to reason with the boy and the hound. Artemis seems not willing to bite me, though she's lunged a few times. The little one is screaming his head off and I'm having to keep us up on the cell tower to avoid drawing notice."

"Hm…" Walter considered the situation for a few moments. "I would be inclined to think that, if she has not yet attacked, the guardian canine is bound not to harm a designated guardian of the child unless they try to harm him first. Technically, you've only refused to relinquish his care to another, but have not caused him harm. She might be restrained from going beyond menacing you."

"Heh, heh… Excuse me for saying so, but I'm not really keen to test that theory, Walter."

"I don't particularly blame you," Walter thought, taking off towards Seras' location with a leap to a building many yards away and slightly lower down, "but do try to remember who and what you are, and that you should not be allowing yourself to be intimidated by a hound. As for the child, put him to sleep and we will figure out what to do with the hound when I reach you. Have you informed our Master what took place?"

"Yes, I did." A pause as Seras had to concentrate on putting the child to sleep. "Master seemed quite displeased by it, though he didn't sound particularly surprised. He's apparently working on acquiring what Mercedes needs for being safely moved and said to hurry up with acquiring a van… Oh. Huh…"

"What?" Walter asked, still speeding across rooftops.

"Oh, well, I sorta sensed Master's energy reaching out, and the hound whimpered and then went quiet. I don't know what he said or did, but now she's laying meekly a foot or so away."

"Let's be thankful for small favors then," Walter said as he came to a halt on the roof of a massive brick warehouse that appeared to be converted from some sort of factory. "I'm less than a minute from you, but I just spotted a U-Haul lot. I'm going to obtain a van and then you can transfer yourself and the boy to it. Stay there for now so you both remain a bit more out of sight and less likely to encounter any other Elders that might be running about the city in search of him and his mother."

"Uh, sure thing, Walter. If you think that's best. No point in doubling back for the van."

"Indeed not," Walter said, already street level, in an alley. "I'll contact you shortly."

With that, he broke off the mental contact, taking notice of a middle aged hobo snoring quietly in a pile of refuse. He stalked over and wrinkled his nose at the unwashed smell, but couldn't detect any traces of drugs or alcohol. Well, a meal was a meal; and with it being morning, and having no assurance when the next meal could be and how long he'd need be awake for, a meal was certainly needed.

And with that pitiless rationalization, the Angel of Death descended on the unfortunate soul, once more ultimately indiscriminate in who he bestowed his talent on.


	32. Chapter 32 Tying Up Loose Ends Part 1

A/N: It's been another month, but in my defense, I had a month from hell. March was horrible. I'm very sorry. Here's a new chapter, and I'm already working on the next.

Red Maple Leaf, thank you! Kiniggit! No, not attacked! Was happy to see you pop back up. Thank you for giving me some credit. Keep in mind, the elders are all suspect right now because of what happened off-screen while Mercedes was getting attacked... As for perhaps not needing to go so far, though Alucard said to protect at all costs. Well, that was one part "in the heat of the moment, casualties happen" and one part something you find out in this chapter. Grapevine- Ditto as to what I said to Kiniggit. GirlWLF- she lives! Hi! Thank you for the constructive and positive feedback. It's appreciated, as always. I'll respond to a few things you brought up via PM when I have a little more time. CDB- Thank you for the enthusiastic review, and I'm glad you're enjoying seeing a mutlifaceted Seras.

Now, onto the show!

Chapter Thirty-Two

Tying up Loose Ends Part 1

Once again, Walter and Seras were stuck in traffic. This time it was a bumper to bumper crawl through the narrow, one way side streets of Center City. Normal morning traffic was made infinitely worse due to the multiple city blocks closed down from the destruction of the archdiocese, felled helicopters, and the building that had been demolished in another district downtown. Along with the road blocks and redirecting of traffic, there were squad cars and emergency vehicles of all kinds battling to get through the traffic and causing more delays for civilian drivers. News crews were trying to cut through traffic and their reporters were vying on the cramped sidewalks to get video footage of the damage, sometimes causing pedestrians to crowd around and spilling onto the streets in attempts to ask or answer questions. Others were ending up in the streets to get around the crowds on their way to wherever they needed to be.

"What madness," Walter said after watching the fourth near-collision between a car and pedestrian take place.

"You're not kidding," Seras agreed with a sigh of dismay. "All these people, they're not helping matters any if they get themselves added to the death count. Not to mention they're making traffic go even more insufferably slow. The GPS said it was only a ten minute drive to the hospital and it's already been thirty minutes."

"How close are we now?" Walter asked, more than a little concerned by the time passing. Not only was it unwise to leave their master waiting when he was already in ill humor, but they had to worry about more Elders possibly sweeping in at any time. If the two they had run into earlier hadn't alerted the others upon spotting them, the one who got away surely had had enough time to do so. The Elders would be undoubtedly canvassing the area around the encounter and spreading out. It was only a matter of time before they came across another. And they had already been stopped once at a road block and routinely questioned as to their purposes for going further into the city given the circumstances. Seras had handled that police officer with a bit of quick talking and hypnosis, but every time they were held up would be a chance for someone to notice something strange. They had no idea how far the Elder's connections went, who might be on Liam's payroll, and how long they might have until the police had their descriptions. And their commercial van liberated from U-Haul wasn't exactly an ideal getaway vehicle.

The quicker they were out of this city, the better.

At least the child was now under hypnosis and sleeping quite soundly in the bench seat behind them, snuggled up with his guardian canine and stuffed animal, and not screaming for someone to rescue him from kidnappers. The five year old had been too worked up to even consider any sort of rational explanation about what had happened with the Elders. Which, given the circumstances, Walter would have been supremely surprised if anything else had been the case. And whatever Master Alucard had done or said to stop the canine from its own confused and hostile actions had proven effective enough to keep her quite meek. Artemis kept close to her little master and hadn't budged or made a noise since entering the vehicle.

"About a half mile or so," Seras said after a quick glance at the American GPS.

"Lovely…" Walter said dryly. The starting distance had been just under one and a quarter miles. They could have walked there by a normal human speed and back, and still had time to stop for a tea at one of the cafes. But there was the concern of being spotted; the van at least offered a partial cover from potential Elder scouting. Not to mention they needed the van for transporting Ms. Dreux-Brézé out of the hospital. When they last checked in with their master ten minutes ago, she had just gotten out of a CAT Scan. Master Alucard had supplies for her care rounded up and he wanted to know how long they'd be in extracting them. He had not been pleased by the estimation, but at least understood there was very little they could do without resorting to more conspicuous measures.

Seras glanced outside nervously, fingers drumming on the door. "I hate this, Walter. I feel like a sitting duck here in traffic. For all we know, whatever these stupid pulsing magic symbol things are could be some sort of homing signal, identifying us to anyone with any sort of energy awareness! Maybe that's how the Elders found us so quickly. Maybe one of them can do magic and now they're just waiting for the proper opportunity to pounce. Maybe…"

"Miss Seras," Walter interrupted her rant firmly before it could get hysterical. "I have no idea what these marks are, but panicking is not going to aid our situation. Stay on alert and we'll discuss the matter with Master Alucard when we rejoin him."

Seras gave a frustrated groan and slouched in her seat. "Just because you tell me not to say anything, doesn't mean my thoughts aren't going to keep spinning about with questions. Every time we think we're getting ahead of the situation, something else happens to trip us up. This went completely off the tracks from the plans." She gave an irritated screech and glared at the mark on her chest. "And this damn mark is still aching! It's driving me mad! Maybe this is some form of psychological torture until they can track us down!"

"Well then you're only playing into their hands by allowing it to rattle you so," Walter said bluntly. "Now calm yourself down and stay focused. We've had plenty of difficult situations over the years, and we'll get through this only to have many more. It is just another hazard of the job we have."

Seras gave an even more miserable groan, but she straightened up in her seat. "We usually deal with newly turned vampires, freaks, human psychos with guns, or Iscariot goons. We've never been stuck in the middle of a city crawling with vampires hundreds of years older than us and who would be all too happy to tear us to shreds the moment we're spotted, with no reinforcements to help and the possibility of some pocket of Iscariot operatives we didn't engage with coming out of the woodwork. Not to mention, we have a child with us and will soon add his unconscious, terribly injured mother in a hospital bed to the list of helpless civilians to try protecting! This is a mess, even by our usual standards."

"I must say, I'm disappointed in you, Seras," Walter bit out tersely. "One little encounter with a couple of Elders in which we managed to escape unscathed, while the same could not be said for them, and you're changing your tune about our ability to protect a few humans and confront this problem."

Seras growled as she glared at Walter, then shot back, "I'm not saying we can't handle this! I'm saying this is just more complicated than we usually deal with and I don't like being under some sort of magical effect that I don't even know the extent of! My only encounters with magic have been times when Anderson is using it, and that never bodes well for us. I think a fair bit of worry is prudent right now."

"Master Alucard has not expressed any pressing concern over the magic, so it's safe to say that it's lower on the list of our worries. You're crossing the line from being prudent to being paranoid. Try to act like the proper nosferatu you are."

Seras pouted, then sighed. She rubbed a hand against her eyes and gave a yawn. "I'm sorry, Walter. I suppose you're right. It doesn't help, though, that we're up so long past dawn. I'm getting sleepy being out in the sun like this. It's making me more cranky."

Walter gave a brief nod. "Understandable, but be thankful that exhaustion is the worst of our problems. We could face potential incineration like most vampires do."

Seras nodded in fervent agreement. "There are benefits to having Master as our master."

"Precisely," Walter said. "Try to keep that in mind. The Elders may by older than us, but their blood is much farther removed from Master's than ours is. We have certain advantages over common vampires. If we keep level heads and a watchful lookout, we'll get out of here just fine."

"And then go who knows bloody where…" Seras muttered. "Do you think Master has even decided where we're taking them yet?"

"I'm certain he has a few ideas brewing, if not one decided on," Walter said as he finally turned onto the street that would eventually lead them to the hospital. The traffic here was even more congested, given how much demand there now was for the emergency services.

"At least one of you is keeping a level head," Alucard's voice echoed through their minds.

Walter hardly reacted, a swift blink his only show of surprise. Seras, however, jumped where she sat and quickly thought, "Master! I'm sorry! I wasn't meaning to…"

"Police Girl, you can apologize later if you'd like. Walter, there's a small strip mall to your right at the next intersection. Pull around back to the trucker unloading area. I'm going to meet you there to speed things up a bit."

"Do you think you can do so without drawing attention to your movements?" Walter asked, more to find out what his master was undoubtedly planning than out of real concern for Alucard's skills.

"It's awfully hard to see a mass of shadows when there's a storm raging," the progenitor replied with a faint hint of amusement.

Already, clouds were starting to roll in from the direction of smoke-choked section of town where the building had exploded. With as much smoke was filling the downtown skyline from the various explosions, most people in the area would hardly give consideration to the sudden weather moving in, excusing it as perhaps they just hadn't noticed it sooner against the other more concerning sights. Most humans subconsciously blocked out phenomenon or came up with the easiest rationalizations when they couldn't ignore it. Meteorologists would know it wasn't an overlooked storm front, but they'd find it impossible to explain just what caused the freak storm.

"Ah. An old, but effective, tactic," Walter said with approval.

"Why tamper with a classic when it beats many alternatives," Alucard agreed. "And besides, it'll give you and Seras a brief reprieve from the sunlight."

"Thank you, Master," Seras said gratefully.

"Refrain from any further panic attacks and we'll call that your thanks. I could sense you from here, Police Girl."

"I'm sorry, Master. Really, I am."

"As to the question Seras posed," Walter ventured as the sky began to darken with billowing charcoal grey clouds. "Have you decided where we are taking the humans?"

"We're hopping over the border to New Jersey to enlist an associate of Mercedes' to watch the child, and then we will be taking them to what should serve as a safe house."

"Over the border?" Seras asked, quickly going over in her mind the list of known associates of Mercedes'. "Oh, are we picking up her friend, Valarie?"

A crack of thunder rumbled above as the clouds spread out to block out the sun. "Nice to see you regaining your head, Police Girl. Yes, we are."

"And the safe house is where?" Seras asked as they neared the intersection, though it would likely be a few more minutes before they actually reached it in this traffic.

"Walter uncovered in his research a small property that the Seer owns in the mountains, about a ten hour drive away. It should have sufficient means to keep them while she is recovering, and is near enough to her medically inclined family should she have a complication that requires making them aware of her return home."

"Isn't it possible that Iscariot or the Elders might think to look for her there?" Walter asked.

"It is a possibility, but a rather slim one so long as we don't give them cause to look. Both groups now know we have them in our custody, but the Elders seem to be working under the assumption that we kidnapped them, and Anderson didn't seem to know anything substantial about our association except that we had recently developed one."

Rain began to fall as Alucard gave a brief summary of his relevant conclusions. His servants could sense his presence begin to move towards them at a far faster pace than they were currently able to make in this van.

"When they don't turn us up in the immediate area of the city, either group will start checking means of heading back to England where we would have a home field advantage, look for signs we've put ourselves up in a new hotel or an abandoned house in the suburbs of the city, or perhaps keep tabs on her family to see if we have commandeered one of their homes. But they shouldn't start considering Mercedes' own little used house for some time, especially as it isn't a secure safe house in terms of fending off any sizable attack and I don't believe either has any reason to know we know about it in the first place. It has enough independent resources that it can be kept off the grid, so they won't know we're there without sending someone to actually check. It's remote enough that if we pick up some basic components from an electronics store, we can rig up an adequate surveillance web to let us know if someone is approaching the house when we're not actively making security sweeps. When the Seer is capable of moving of her own volition without drawing undue attention to herself, we'll have a more secure arrangement readied for them."

They finally reached the intersection and Walter turned right, then cut immediately into the parking lot on the right. As he circled around it to get to the back of the mall, he said, "That sounds our best option for the circumstances we have. However, the basic background check I ran on Ms. Dreux-Brézé's friend showed she was a college student, attending for Liberal Arts with a focus on Psychology and History. She's not a medical professional. I assume then, especially with the plan you've outlined, that you mean for us to oversee Ms. Dreux-Brézé's care while the friend sees to the boy's?"

"I spoke at length with a nurse here who knew Mercedes before erasing his memory. Her care, now that she's had emergency services, is going to be fairly routine, barring a complication arising. You've tended worse while in the Hellsing's employ or doing field work with the Geese. It should be within our capabilities to handle for a short time."

Walter brought the van to a halt in a corner of the back parking lot next to large dumpsters. "I certainly could, but I wonder why you didn't perhaps persuade this nurse friend of hers to join us."

"Because they have an attachment who is fighting a disease, which would make them highly unlikely to be willing to leave for a length of time. Not without possibly exposing our location with attempts to check on their partner; and I'm certainly not about to bring both along as prevention for that sort of trouble. As her care should be basic enough, what we need is a sitter for the child; especially one he knows and trusts after this morning's little incident. I also have several questions that need answering that her friend may be qualified to answer as the Seer is incapable of doing so."

The servants both noticed the energy-filled mass of shadows moving at lightning speed around the building, keeping low to the ground and close to the sides, but it was highly unlikely any human would be able to notice it with the storm now raging. Artemis' head raised from Xander's lap, but she gave a tiny whimper and lowered it as the shadows phased through the wall of the van.

The shadows swiftly condensed and took the form of Alucard, back to his usual red and black suit. He had one hand resting on a hospital bed loaded with Mercedes, a large cooler, and four bags hanging off one of the side railing; the other hand rested on a larger cart that held her vital signs monitor, oxygen distributor, and emergency response kit, with her IV bag on a hook protruding from the top. The machine was parallel to the bed, both had their wheel locks on, but that latter fact hardly mattered because there was barely enough room in the back of the large van for both and they couldn't go far.

Walter raised an eyebrow at all the medical supplies. Though he well knew it was all needed, he couldn't help but ask, "Were they currently short on CAT Scan machines, so you were unable to bring one along as well?"

Alucard gave a short laugh. "Well, she did have the scan before we left, but if she takes any new injuries I'm sure we could find a different hospital to steal a machine from."

Walter shook his head with a chuckle and pulled out of the parking lot.

Alucard removed the cooler from the hospital bed and levitated it to the floor in front of the bench seat the child was asleep on. Space made, his lower half turned to shadow, shifted him to the end of the bed, then reformed as him sitting. "Walter, give Seras the address to where we're first going so she can program it into the GPS, then give me a precise account of what took place between the Elders and yourselves."

.

.

.

They made it out of Philadelphia without further incident, mostly because Alucard had released a few unfortunate souls he had possession of that looked close enough to himself and his servants, manifesting the souls with clothes identical to theirs to aid in the deception, and then sent them off towards the airport to make it look like they were attempting to make an escape. He could sense the familiars leading some Elders on a merry little chase for nearly an hour before the deception was discovered. By then, the foreign vampires were long gone.

Alucard received the full story from Walter as to what happened with the Elders they had encountered. He managed to deflect his servants' questions about what he knew of the magic that had been activated by asking about the other details of what had taken place since they had parted and updating them to Mercedes' diagnosis. Along with obvious blade-inflicted injuries, she had a couple broken ribs and a hairline fracture in her shoulder blade.

Once they had gone over the bridge into Camden, Seras let slip that they hadn't fed the child yet. Alucard made them pull over into a diner and sent Seras in to order some food. She came back with doggy bags containing pancakes, waffles, eggs and toast, hash browns, sausages and bacon. Another bag had two child sized containers of milk (vanilla and chocolate), a bottle of water, and three kinds of juice.

When Alucard gave her a disbelieving look, she said with a shrug, "Little one said before things got turned upside down that he was hungry. I didn't know what he'd want."

Alucard sighed and shook his head, the shadowed into the backseat, forcing Artemis to have to squish herself onto the floor next to the cooler. He undid the hypnosis Seras had done, contemplating what to say to keep the child calm as he'd undoubtedly work himself into quite the upset state if it wasn't headed off quickly. The child started to wake up a few minutes later, nose sniffing the air.

"Mmm… Mama, that bacon smells good…" Xander murmured sleepily, eyes still closed for the moment.

"Well, if you sit up, you're welcome to have some," Alucard said.

Xander's eyes flew open and hellfire gaze met sky blue for the first time. The child blinked in surprise, sitting up and scooting back against the door. As Alucard opened his mouth to speak again, Xander said abruptly, "I know you! You've been in my dreams! You're real?!"

Alucard paused, surprised. Then he realized the child, who according to his mother had inherited some of her gifts, must have sensed his mental influence over the last week and it had effected his dreams. Or sensing his supernatural presence, or hearing the vampire's voice in his sleep, had triggered it for the psychic child. Alucard decided to use that to his advantage, as the child didn't seem scared so much as gleeful. He gave a nod, smirk forming. "Yes, I'm real. And I'm an associate of your mother's. My name is…"

"Vlad," the child interrupted, causing the progenitor to again look at him in surprise. He didn't notice, saying excitedly, "I told you, I know you. I heard your name in my dreams." He cocked his head to one side, examining the vampire. "You're taller than I thought."

Alucard laughed at that blunt statement. "I hear that often enough."

"Where's your armor?" Xander demanded curiously.

"What?" Alucard asked, surprised for the third time in less that many minutes.

"Your armor! Where is it? In my dreams, you always have armor on."

Alucard leaned back a little. Why in the world would the child's senses show that? He shifted to shadows and reformed into his old self, accented voice asking, "Did I look more like this?"

The sire of vampires hadn't really needed to ask, because the child went wide eyed with awe. Clearly, Xander recognized that version of himself too. The child nodded and said, "Oh… That was so cool! Alright! You even have the sword! Can you use it like I saw in my dreams?"

"Likely better than you saw," Alucard said with a chuckle. This family was truly not normal humans.

Seras made a little coo from the front seat and then said, "Aww… Sounds like you have a fan club, Master!"

Xander's head snapped around to look in Seras's direction. He unbuckled his seatbelt in a flash and leaned up to see over the bench seat. "It's you!" His angry gaze went to Walter in the driver's seat. "Hey! I remember you too!" He pointed a little finger at Walter as he demanded, "Where's my Auntie Sasha and Auntie Janna? If you hurt them, you're in big trouble when Liam finds out!"

Seras gave a nervous laugh and said, "Um, Master, do you want to explain things to the little one?"

"Xander, you need to listen right now- listen seriously like the little lord we both know you can be," Alucard said, once more in his modern form and putting a hint of compulsion into the command. The child obeyed, gaze going to the progenitor in confusion and query for an answer. "Your 'aunties' were sent away by my servants because someone among the Elders is tricking all of them and means to hurt you and your mother. They've already killed at least one person today. It'd put everyone in more danger if we had let you go with your aunts. That includes danger for your aunts because one of the bad elders might kill them to try to get to you and your mother. It's safer for you and your mother to stay with us for the time being, until we know just how many Elders are in on this plot to cause you harm. Understood?"

The child's brow was furrowed as he listened, trying to follow what Alucard was saying. "You think one of the Elders wants to hurt mama and me?"

Alucard nodded and said resolutely, "I know at least one of them does, possibly more."

"How do you know?" Xander asked hesitantly, voice starting to shake a little with fear.

Alucard nodded towards the back of the van, "Because, someone sent men to hurt your mother earlier this week, but I helped her get away. And then thanks to one of the Elders, your mother was injured in a new fight this morning. If I hadn't arrived when I had, she and you would have died."

Xander flung himself around to look over the back of his own seat. He went pale as he gaped at his mother's unconscious figure on the hospital bed, hooked up to the machines on the cart next to her. "Mama?" the child called tentatively. When he received no answer, he said with increasing panic, ignoring a whine of concern from Artemis at his feet, "Mama?!" He hit the back of the seat as he cried out, "Mama! Wake up, mama!" Xander looked over to Alucard when the vampire put a hand on his shoulder to keep him from launching himself over the seat to get to his mother, frightened, tear-filled gaze meeting Alucard's carefully stoic one. "What happened to mama? Why isn't she waking up? Is she gonna be okay?"

"She's going to need time to heal, but she'll survive," Alucard said with as neutral a tone as he could manage. The boy's reaction reminded him of one long ago, when a different child asked the same question but was doomed to receive a very different answer. He was having to actively work to keep those memories suppressed as he added, "She's sleeping right now to help her heal, and it's best to let her get that sleep, but she'll wake up when she's able."

The child's gaze went back to his mother, and then he said tremulously, "She don't look okay."

"She will be."

"Are you sure, Vlad?" Xander asked as tears started falling.

"Yes."

The child dropped to his seat sniffling. "I want to go home."

"It's not safe there."

Artemis stretched out and put her face against his, nuzzling against him with snuffs, trying to console him. Xander pet the hell hound for a minute, crying quietly. Alucard let the child have time to process what he had been told and waited to see how he'd respond.

"So, we can't go home?" the child demanded through his tears.

"No," Alucard said plainly, trying to keep any harshness out of his voice so as not to send the child into a fit.

"And we can't go to Liam?"

"No." A sliver of anger managed to slip out, but the child didn't seem to notice.

Xander gave some more sniffs and then wiped at his tears angrily. Then he gave a heavy sigh and dropped his head onto Artemis' shoulder. He asked in a monotone voice that was muffled against the hound, "Where we going, Vlad?"

"We're going to fetch your Aunt Valarie so she can help watch you, and then we're going to the mountains to your mother's house there."

"We're going to Tukiko's house?" Xander asked with a smidge of interest, glancing over at the vampire.

Alucard nodded.

"I like Tukiko's house," the child said ambivalently. "Mama does too."

"I'm aware of that. And we'll be safe there."

"You're staying to keep us safe?" the child asked anxiously.

Alucard managed to keep his expression neutral as he met the blue-eyed gaze that was hauntingly similar to another, and gave a small nod. "I promised your mother I would."

Xander's gaze went towards the front seat, petting the hound again. "They coming too?"

"They are my servants," Alucard said, now with a hint of amusement.

Xander stared a second longer, then turned his gaze to the progenitor and motioned for him to lean over. Alucard raised an eyebrow, but obliged the child. Xander whispered, "I don't like them."

"Oh?" Alucard asked quietly.

Xander shook his head. "She's very loud and he's stuffy pants who wasn't nice to my Aunties."

Alucard smirked at that, then whispered back in good humor, knowing full well Seras and Walter could hear them with their supernatural senses, "You're not wrong about either, but they're my servants and you might like them if you give them a second chance. I've already had words with them about what happened with your aunts." Alucard left out the part about it being words of approval for Walter's decision, given the fact that they didn't know who could be trusted right now.

Xander gave a doubtful look towards the front seat. He asked quietly, "Do they _have_ to come?"

Alucard snorted back a laugh. "Yes."

Xander gave a harrumph and said sullenly, "Fine."

Seras peeked out from above her chair and held out the doggy bags as a peace offering. "We got you breakfast as promised."

Xander eyed the bag, clearly torn between lingering resentment and hunger. After a short debate with himself, he reached out and grabbed the bags.

"What do you say?" Alucard asked.

Xander looked at the progenitor, then Seras. He said bluntly, "Thanks, but I still don't like you."

Seras' jaw dropped, then she sputtered indignantly as chuckles echoed from Alucard.

Xander glanced side long at the vampire next to him. "I like you better with armor and beard. That outfit don't look right on you."

Alucard stopped laughing and raised an eyebrow, and now it was Seras' turn to giggle. Alucard cast an unamused look in her direction. She gave an "eep" and quickly ducked down behind her seat.

Xander was already digging through the bags when Alucard turned his gaze back to the boy, using Artemis' back for the table. He made faces at the pancakes and waffles and put the boxes those were in on the floor, then dumped the sausage patties and hash browns in too. "Here, you eat those, Artemis." The hell hound gave the food a sniff and then began to eat it half-heartedly as her master started eating the eggs, toast and bacon.

"Continuing on, Master Alucard?" Walter asked.

"Yes, thank you, Walter," Alucard said.

Xander gave a hiccup. "We have something to drink that's not blood?"

Seras' hand appeared from the front seat, holding the bag of drinks. "Here ya go."

Xander took the bag and said, completely serious, "Thanks, but I still don't like you."

Seras gave a groan. "This is going to be fun."

.

.

.

Forty-five minutes and two bathroom stops later, they made it to Valarie's family's address. Xander recognized and pointed out her car upon request, and Alucard could only sense one presence in the house, which likely meant she was home. When he opened up his psychic sight, he saw it was a young woman with red hair, rustling through clothing in a very messy bedroom. Alucard left Walter in the van with the child and approached the house with Seras, with the Seer's letter in hand and a plan in mind.

His knock at the door went unanswered for more than a minute. He could hear movement inside, and then it sounded like Valarie tripped down the stairs. He could hear her familiar voice cursing up a storm in regards to some cats that had apparently decided to take naps on the steps.

Eventually, though, the door was opened by the thoroughly frazzled looking young woman. She had one hand on the doorknob and one on the doorframe as she glanced between the two vampires, eyebrows hiking up in surprise and gaze more than a little intrigued. "Um… Either Liam was joking when he refused to send me vampire escorts for my birthday, or you're part of a retrieval team?"

"W-what?! Escorts?!" Seras nearly screeched indignantly.

"Not escorts then," Val deadpanned, gaze darting over the both of them in search now. Her eyes narrowed and she looked over to Alucard as her hand on the door frame shifted inside. "And neither of you are wearing insignia of whoever your Elders would be. So you're the foreign vamps who fucked with everything downtown."

"I wouldn't grab that, were I you," Alucard said in warning, just as her hand went to descend into the vase on the side table next to the doorway, where a gun was hidden.

Val's hand froze, and she kept her gaze warily on the vampire. "Oh yeah? And why's that, Red?" She snapped out angrily. "Do you have any idea just how fucked you people are right now? And what the hell did you do with Mercedes and Xander?"

Alucard almost rolled his eyes. Almost. Once again, a certain infuriating Elder was causing trouble for his plans. He settled for shaking his head in exasperation and saying, "Clearly, you've spoken with Liam at some point this morning."

"Clearly." Val's hand darted into the vase. She pulled out the handgun and leveled it on Alucard, saying with unbridled anger, "So start talking or I'm putting silver into you and then calling Liam to come tear you apart."

In half the blink of an eye, while Val's attention was on her Master, Seras pulled the gun from the hostile human. A blink later, Val found herself face against the inside wall, arms pinned quite securely behind her back with a vice-like grip.

"I do believe my Master told you not to do that," Seras said as politely as she could muster, keeping in mind they wanted this human's aid. Alucard stepped inside the house and closed the door as she continued talking to avoid attracting the attention of any possible nosy neighbors. "We didn't come here for a fight with you, Miss. We came here because Mercedes is a mutual friend and we need your help because she and the little one are in far more danger than you know."

"Oh, fuck off, you hell-spawned bitch!" Val growled out, struggling in vain. "Give me one good reason why I should believe that!"

Alucard gave a wry laugh, using the same pitch he had used earlier in the week when Mercedes had been on the phone with her short-tempered best friend. He said in the sultry Romanian tone he had also used, "Allow me to answer your question this time, Valarie." The young woman stopped struggling, going perfectly still. "Ah, I see you remember my voice and therefore remember that I was with Mercedes earlier this week. Perhaps you'd care to ask yourself why, instead of Mercedes spending that time with the Elders?"

Valarie turned her face to look at Alucard, blew her bangs from her eyes, and said, "Okay, Red, now you've got my attention. Wanna tell me who the fuck you are and just what the fuck is going on?"

"My name is Alucard and this is my servant, Seras," he replied, tone back to normal. Valarie's expression went from lingering anger and extreme annoyance to a mixture of fear and shock. "Ah, so you've heard something of me over the years."

Valarie gave a small nod. "Yep." She closed her eyes with a groan, letting her forehead thunk against the wall, then muttered to herself, "Goddamnit. 'Not the dragon prince you're thinking of'. No fucking shit. How did I not catch that? Goddamn seers and their goddamn vague answers. What the fuck, Mercedes, did you get yourself into this time?!"

"To put it briefly," Alucard replied, "she and her son ended up in the sights of Iscariot, for reasons that are still not clear, to be among several targets during a sweep and clean that they attempted to conduct today. She had a vision warning of it beforehand and asked me to help protect her and her son because she didn't believe Liam and the others capable of protecting them. A fear that was especially well founded because they were going to send their best special operative with a small contingent of soldiers to kill her and the boy in their sleep."

Val processed that for a minutes, then asked warily, "How the hell did you get pulled in? I know Mercedes didn't know you before this past week."

"We met one another a few days before her vision, while she was on her way home and I was surveying some of Iscariot's offices. We had engaged in several conversations by the time she had her vision."

Valarie gave a frustrated huff. "If you're really on the up and up, want to tell your attack dog to let go of me?"

Alucard gave a nod to Seras. Seras released the human and took a couple steps back. Val turned around and rubbed her wrists. "Damn, you're stronger than you look, even for a vamp." Her blue-green gaze went back to Alucard. "So let me see if I've got this straight. Iscariot came rolling into town. You came in to scope them out, probably looking to make Philly the backdrop for the latest of your infamous shoot outs with them, and you ran into Mercedes. You two started chatting, and when she had her vision, she decided it'd be better to call you, instead of the Elders?"

"Yes."

Valarie looked less than fully convinced. "Did she have her vision before or after I talked to her that night?"

"Before," Alucard stated matter-of-fact.

"Ughhh! And she didn't tell me?"

Alucard held out the letter from Mercedes. "She gave this to me, to give to you, in the event anything misfortunate happened, to explain. Unlike her concerns expressed in the letter, she's still alive, and she and the boy are in our custody for protection."

Val gave a glance between the two vampires, snorted back a laugh, and took the letter, muttering, "Oh, you probably have no idea how right that is…"

"Meaning?" Alucard asked.

"Shh!" Val said, holding up her free hand as she looked over the letter. "I'm reading. No distractions. I hate reading cursive."

Seras gaped at the human, aghast she had just shushed her master.

Alucard decided he'd let the impertinence slide for the moment, given the situation, but he really wished there was a better option for someone to question in regards to many different subjects he needed answering. There wasn't. So he had to tolerate this human for now.

Upon seeing her master not say anything, Seras decided against commenting and crossed her arms in front of her chest. Americans were so bloody rude.

Val finished reading the letter and looked up at Alucard. "So, she was playing the martyr and wanted to keep everyone else safe?"

"If you want to see it that way," Alucard said neutrally. "Realistically, you couldn't do anything, and you weren't indicated to be in any danger, so there was no reason to tell you."

Val glared at him. "I'm her best friend! If there's possible death on the agenda, I have a right to be forewarned!"

"You weren't," Alucard said with an edge to his voice. "You know now. Get over it and move on as there are bigger concerns."

"I'd say," Valerie snapped back. "Such as, why oh why did someone who 'proved to be a worthy ally' go and bite Mercedes after she was injured, thereby triggering her wards?"

Seras cast a confused look between the accusatory human and her now glaring master, as the latter said icily, "I did not bite Mercedes."

"Only one way for that ward to get activated, Your Royal Fangness," Val stated with assurance, anger re-entering her voice. "Vamp bites human with ward and drinks their blood, vamp get the whammy on them. You must have been the one to bite her, because the ward is on you and your Drac-y babe. So cut the bullshit. Why did you bite her? I know Mercedes. She wouldn't want to get ghouled to avoid death, and a vampire ally should have known that. So, you what? Turned on her after she was injured, and now you're fucking with me?"

"I did not bite Mercedes, you presupposing harpy!" Alucard snapped out. "She was grievously injured by Iscariot, I brought her to a hospital to get her injuries tended to. While she was in surgery, I went to the bathroom to clean off, was hungry, and licked the blood from my hands because I didn't see the harm! I didn't know it would set off some magical chain reaction!"

Val stared at him for several seconds in surprise, then started laughing uproariously. She had to lean against the paneled wall for support as the laughter died down, feeling a little light headed from laughing, a lack of sleep, and probably from hunger because she hadn't eaten since the day before. This was so not how she planned for the last few days to go.

"So…" Seras ventured warily, after the laughter finally ceased and silence had fallen. "Master accidentally triggered some sort of magical ward? What does it do?"

"Oh, that's the funny part," Val said. She walked across the hardwood floor to the couch in the adjoining living room a few feet away and leaned against the back of it.

"Unlike you, I'm not laughing," Alucard said, struggling to keep his temper in check. "What does this ward do?"

Val gave a knowing smirk. "Well, that's the kicker. Mercedes, brilliant priestess that she is, made the wards to be the ultimate insurance policy cuz she spends so much time dealing with your kind. After a few attempts on her life by some lowlife vamps, she was able to get the wards in place to protect her, and the two people closest to her, from vamps who might mean her ill. It's a rather appropriate compensation from a vampire for trying to drink her blood to fuel oneself."

"What does the ward do?" Alucard asked again sharply, out of patience with the human.

"Well, enemy of her enemy," Val said with clear vindictive amusement, "while the ward was meant to be utilized only if an enemy bit her, you still ingested her blood, which is where the ward was tied to, and apparently that was good enough to trigger the ward. So, even if you hadn't agreed to be an ally, by taking a snack off Mercedes you just signed yourself, and your servants, up for being full time, devoted guardians of the three of us."

"What, precisely, do you mean by that?" Alucard asked, hands clenching to fists and dark shadows building around him as fury grew, remembering the last time he had been bound to a family.

Val glanced at the ocular filled shadows warily and said, "That means, Your Royal Fangness, that by betraying Mercedes' trust, you're all now responsible for making sure others can't cause her, and by extension, Xander and I, harm. You and any vampires you've directly sired are now under a constant compulsion enchantment that, as I understand it, is fused with your very being and is now a part of you. You will have no choice but to protect us at all costs whenever our lives are in danger by another living being, and you cannot order someone or something else, like familiars, to cause us harm. Should we be harmed somehow, despite your best efforts, you'll do everything in your power to see us recovering."

"So, say one of you three was attacked..." Seras said with consternation, thinking on her mixed feelings earlier today when encountering the two Elders, and how swiftly Walter had shifted into his role as the Angel of Death. "Would that mean we'd have a really strong 'fight or flight' response to protect you in whichever way was best at the moment? Even if that meant fighting people we might not want to fight for one reason or other?"

Val nodded. "Doesn't matter if it's enemies, friends or family, or even your master. Someone tries to harm us, you'll respond in whatever method your brain and impulses deem most expedient for eliminating the threat. You," Valerie pointed at Alucard, who was surrounded by the nebulous forms of familiars snarling within the shadows, and her voice was a quieter mix of fear and surety, "being the biter, get the added bonus of being under an especially strong compulsion to protect Mercedes, the bitten. You're going to find out, if you haven't already, that you can't go terribly far from her because that would risk you being too far from helping her if it's needed. You've signed up to protect her from dangers from sentient beings and situational, and everything in between. Beyond that, though, I'm not certain what the effects are. You're the first one to trigger the ward outside of whatever trial runs Mercedes did with Liam's help, and I wasn't part of the trials because she didn't want to risk working the mojo on Xander and I until she knew she had all the kinks worked out of it and it was safe to link us in."

"B-but, it can be removed, right?" Seras stammered out, trying to find a bright spot and diffuse the situation. Despite the claims of the human, she could sense absolute fury, on a level she rarely sensed, coming from her master. He seemed seconds away from setting his hounds on Val and they really couldn't afford that right now. She also didn't like the thought that she might kill someone she didn't want to kill if they threatened these humans in such a way that made this enchantment trigger and she had doubts about being able to escape with them safely. "When Mercedes is recovered from her injuries, she can do some sort of counter-magic and remove it, seen as where this was all one big mix up and she knows Master wasn't trying to cause any harm?"

Valerie gave a shrug. "I don't know. But what I do know is she spent a long time perfecting this spell for our protection, and Liam gave her a whole lot of advice from his expertise on the matter, so it ain't gonna be easy to reverse. The spell was meant to neutralize hostile vampires who managed to get one step ahead of her so she could then kill them, as the ward doesn't stop her from causing them harm. Or, if they were too powerful for her to kill, to give her the ability to call for Liam and make sure he had the time needed to get to her, keep the offending vamp from going too far and Liam having to play hide and seek with them, and then allow him to end the threat."

Seras glanced between the human and her master as silence descended. The stalking hounds looked as though they were trying to escape the shadows, but they came up short each time they went to cross the barrier between worlds. Each lunge they made, the human cringed a little. Even though she said the hounds couldn't attack her, they still seemed to make her uneasy. "M-master… Perhaps it'd be wise to send the hounds back, and then continue sorting this mess out without the distractions?"

Alucard was silent for several seconds, then made a dismissive gesture and the hound-filled shadow disappeared. "They're hardly distracting for myself. As for sorting this mess out, there's far too much to discuss here." Addressing Val, he said, "Pack a bag with some changes of clothes and something to keep yourself occupied when the child is sleeping, no electronics. Expect to be gone for at least a few weeks. You're being moved to a safehouse with the Seer and her son."

"What?!" Valerie exclaimed, hands going to her hips.

"You heard me. Pack, or you can go without any belongings, but either way we leave this house in five minutes."

"Are you joking?" Val asked, incredulous with his audacity to order her about. "You want me to pack for a few weeks in five minutes?!"

"Four minutes fifty-four seconds…" Alucard deadpanned.

"My master is being quite serious," Seras said, eyeing said vampire warily. "I wouldn't test his patience today. Miss Mercedes was injured, we need your help and you know we can't harm you, so think about what's best for your nephew and sister."

At the mention of her adopted family, Val straightened up, then nodded and said, "I suppose you're right on that." She glanced mistrustfully at Alucard, then shook her head and left the room at a jog, heading for her bedroom. "What a fucking morning…"

Seras, though she wouldn't say it, was inclined to agree.


	33. Chapter 33 Angel!

Chapter Thirty-Three

"Angel"?!

While Alucard and Seras were inside the house of Mercedes' best friend, (and what sort of house was that, precisely, that it looks like an unfinished row home without other houses attached?) Walter was waiting in the van with Xander and keeping watch on his mother. Between the child seeming fond of his master and being glad for the news that his aunt was joining them, Walter was having an easier time watching the child than before. "Easier" being a relative word. The child was at least not causing trouble or making threats, but the one attempt Walter made to talk to the boy was answered with, "I still don't like you, can you go away?"

At least the boy's care would soon be transferred to his adopted aunt and it would no longer be his concern, barring circumstances of protecting the child should their enemies track them down.

While they were waiting for the human to pack some belongings, Seras had filled him in via telepathy on just what bit of magic they had been effected by. Walter wasn't amused to hear it. He was also not nearly as surprised to find out as Seras had been. It made a perfect sort of sense, given the heiress's powers and those she chose to associate with. It was a rather smart precaution, an understandable one to protect herself; if a bit unexpected that she had figured out a way to do so.

Walter was used to serving others, so perhaps that was why he was taking the news so calmly. The difference was that he had chosen to give his service to the Hellsing family, and then to Master Alucard. He didn't appreciate that his mind had apparently been basically rewired by magic to commandeer his services and overwrite his free will. However, it was apparently a direct result of a misstep on his Master's part. Rationally, Walter could acknowledge the heiress had set up a passive defense, and the fault lay with his master for springing it (though he'd never dare say so to his master). Therefore, he'd not hold resentment for Mercedes' magic, but he did want it reversed as soon as possible. It was his hope that their master would be able to get further information out of the enchantress' apprentice, perhaps find some answers in her chest of magical supplies when they had better opportunity to examine the contents, and subsequently they'd soon have this magic on them reversed when Mercedes was awake and capable of undoing her magic.

Seras came out of the house just then, with Valarie following and Master Alucard behind the human.

Walter gave the human a scrutinizing look from the corner of his eye, not wanting to be obvious in his examination. When he had looked up information on her for Master Alucard, something seemed vaguely familiar about her driver's license picture, but he couldn't place why he felt that way. Seeing her in person, he still had that niggling feeling in the back of his mind like he should be recognizing her from somewhere, but it seemed even further away from him than before. He had a very sharp memory, especially now that he was a nosferatu. But he was having that feeling, and it reminded him of passing instances of memory loss that he had been experiencing as he had been getting on in age before accepting the dark gift from his master.

Walter did not like that feeling one bit. His fingers gripped the steering wheel a little tighter, his mind searching for where he had seen this human, or one who looked similar enough to her to cause the impression. She was about 5'6", with a chest nearly as full as Seras', a slender waist and curvaceous hips, naturally vibrant red hair that would likely bespeak Scottish heritage when considered with her pale skin and freckles, blue-green eyes. Her nose was a bit smallish, her lips average, nothing remarkable about her cheekbones; but the facial structure was as a whole balanced and attractive enough. She had several bags in arm and one slung across her back, struggling under the weight a little, but she refused Seras' offer to help with a determined shake of her head.

"I'm calling shot gun," Valarie called to Seras when they were finally about five feet away.

Walter froze where he sat. He knew that Jersey-accented voice…

"What?" Seras asked, turning to look at the human.

Walter's head slowly turned to look at the human fully as well. It couldn't bloody be…

"I get motion sick if I'm not the one driving and not in the front seat," Valarie said, grimacing and attention on Seras. "Like, seriously sick. We'll be pulling over at least every half an hour for me to throw up if I'm not riding shotgun."

Walter's eyes narrowed as he examined the human, comparing it to the memory the voice resurrected. Then he shut his eyes and turned his face forward with a grit of teeth, realizing the location of where he had last heard that voice was just 45 minutes over the border from New York City, which was barely over an hour from this location.

The child had noticed his aunt's approach and was rolling down the window. "Hi Auntie Val!" he called, waving a little hand out the window.

Take away nearly 70 kilos from the memory, teeth braces and acne, a ridiculous hat with anime buttons all over it, add more covering clothing, and Walter had his answer. If there was a god, and he had seriously come to question that since becoming a vampire, He must really hate him to be arranging this ill turn of luck.

Valarie's gaze went to the child in the backseat and her face relaxed with relief. She managed to smile and say, "Hey, little man! There you are. You alright?"

Xander nodded and then shrugged. "I'm okay, I guess. Mama's hurt, though, and these vampires aren't following the rules, but Artemis is here and Vlad's pretty cool and he's taking us to Tukiko's house."

Walter was strongly considering leaping out the door and running to the house up north, letting Seras do the driving, even if she hated driving in America with its backwards roads and rules.

Valarie nodded. "Tukiko's is as safe as anywhere right now, Xander. We'll get things sorted out, one way or other."

Five minutes in the car with that woman, Walter thought, no matter how much she had changed, was without a doubt going to be a disaster if she recognized him. Given their last encounter, and the fact that he was inhuman and unchanging in appearance, he had no doubt she would remember him. It wasn't like he could suddenly shift to a different appearance; that would draw the notice of Master Alcuard and Seras, even if the human wouldn't know any better. So he had to stay in his natural form. And from what Master Alucard said, Mercedes' best friend had quite the big mouth. So that hadn't changed. She'd recognize him, she'd open her bloody mouth, and then he was in for it with Master.

Xander nodded. "I know. You're here. And Artemis is here. And mama will wake up eventually. And we have Vlad. He can keep us safe until it's safe to go home again. So we're gonna be okay."

Walter wondered if he could somehow perhaps kill the human before she entered the van and could recognize him, without the child coming to know of another aunt's death and without anyone else noticing he was behind her sudden death. He highly doubted it, even with his skills being what they were, not least of all because he had this ward on him that would stop him. He was now feeling resentment for its presence.

Valarie shot a look to Alucard, who was smirking ever so slightly as the child perked up noticeably when mentioning the progenitor. "Just what the fuck have you managed to say or do to my nephew in the brief time you've had with him to inspire that kind of confidence?"

Alucard's smirk became more pronounced and he asked with a hint of smugness, "Wouldn't you like to know?"

"That's why I asked," Valarie said sharply.

"I suppose you'll have to wait and observe," Alucard said nonchalantly. His gaze went to the child. "Xander, do you need to take care of yourself before we drive again? Walter won't be able to find an immediate restroom once on the main highway like we were able on the way here."

Xander shook his head immediately. "I'm good." Alucard raised an eyebrow, smirk lessening. Xander scrunched up his face in thought and shifted a bit under the scrutiny. "Well, maybe I could go check…"

Alucard opened the door with a touch of telekinesis and nodded. "Thank you for being a responsible young man."

Xander smiled cheerfully at the vampire as he hopped out of the car and nodded. "Yep. That's me."

Alucard gave a single nod in return, smirk returning with less of an edge. "Go on then while we get your aunt's things packed between your mother's. The door is still unlocked, Artemis will keep you company, and I'll be keeping watch out here."

Xander gave an off-kilter salute and went dashing up to the house with giggles, racing the familiar, who let him win.

Valarie had watched the exchange quietly, and watched her adopted nephew race inside with clear bafflement. She turned to look at the progenitor with suspicion. "I have never seen him give such little trouble about checking himself on a road trip. What sort of mind juju did you work on him?"

"Absolutely none," Alucard said, sarcasm returning as his smirk grew. "As I said, Mercedes well knew who was best suited to be handling this issue, so try to cooperate as asked."

Val gave a wave of her hand to her belongings. "Obviously, I am, as I'm leaving as ordered to go wherever you take us."

Alucard raised an eyebrow to the adult female.

She glared. "What? Don't think your eyebrow raising is gonna get me hopping about like a child."

Alucard double checked with his psychic senses to make sure no one was watching, and then gestured with one hand. The bag on her back opened, as did the messenger bag over one shoulder. A laptop, cellphone and tablet came flying out from where they were buried amongst clothing. Alucard raised an eyebrow as the human gaped at her contraband items being taken. "I said no electronics, and I meant it." The electronics seemingly imploded in on themselves and then sailed across the street and into the neighbor's trash can.

"What the fuck?!" Val yelled. "Do you know how much those cost me?!"

"If you were worried about that, you should have left them behind," Alucard replied sharply. "Unless, of course, giving our enemies way to track us and cause further injury to the one you call sister is what you're after?"

Valarie's mouth opened and closed a few times, then she returned to glaring. "Of course not! But those were expensive…"

"They can be replaced with those that aren't traceable if and when convenience and availability present themselves," the vampire said dismissively.

"The information on them can't be!" Valarie growled out.

"If you didn't back up the information, whatever it may be, somewhere else, that is not my concern. Keeping you three humans from dying is. If you don't like it, find a way to get these wards off so it is no longer my responsibility, and then kill Iscariot on your own, along with whoever among the Elders are traitors and want your sister dead if given an opportunity." Alucard moved to the back of the van and gestured for her to follow.

Valarie continued to glare at him, teeth audibly grinding together before she gave a furious huff and stomped forward. "You owe me new electronics, Your Royal Fangness. And now I'm going to have to rewrite the last half of my film history project and figure out some sort of excuse for it being late cuz I doubt my professor will accept 'a vampire crushed my laptop with telekinesis' as a legitimate one."

"I strongly suggest you don't start keeping tabs on who owes what," Alucard said with a smirk returning. "As much as you modern humans seem to think your lives revolve around ridiculous gadgets for easy entertainment, they're nothing when balanced against your lives, which I happen to be keeping preserved." His voice became sharper as he added, "Now, get your bags in the van and then get yourself seated. We leave as soon as the child returns."

"You know, I'm not thinking this is how you got on friendly terms with my nephew," Val grumbled testily, but she was moving to do as told.

"You'd be correct in that guess," Alucard agreed with sardonic humor. "However, the five year old seems to have more sense when it comes to self-preservation and knowing his place than you do, so I haven't needed to treat him with any form of force."

Valarie made a frustrated, semi-growling noise, that ended with the quiet mutter of, "fucking asshole."

"What was that?" Alucard asked, though he had caught it perfectly.

"Nothing," Val said grudgingly as she shoved her last bag between the hospital bed and cart. She had taken a very brief glance at Mercedes to determine she was living, then looked away. She loathed hospitals, and any reminders of them, because of how much time she had spent in them the last few years. A brief glance was enough to make her want to vomit as she considered the possibility of losing Mercedes too.

"Then kindly get yourself situated up front, the child is on his way down."

Valarie shot the vampire another glare and then stormed to the front of the van. Seras was moving around the van to sit behind the driver. She'd ask for more details on just what the fuck happened to Mercedes when Xander wouldn't be able to overhear. Little man usually ended up nodding off on longer drives, so hopefully he would again.

Val wrenched open the heavy van door with a little more force than was probably necessary, just as the door to her house opened and Xander came dashing out, with Artemis so close to his heels that she could almost pass for his shadow. She pulled herself up into the higher cabin van, vaguely reminded of her father's tow truck when she did so. She squashed that bittersweet memory, in an ill humor and wanting to remain that way, and plunked down in the front seat without bothering to glance at the driver. She shut the door heavily and buckled up, then leaned against the door with another huff of aggravation.

Walter turned the van back on as the child was helped back into his seat by Master Alucard. He tried to act natural, but there was a slight stiffness to his movements. So far, the human wasn't looking at him. He knew that'd change eventually, but until then, he'd pretend he didn't know her and try not to draw her attention. Maybe, just maybe, four years was a long enough period of time and she would have forgotten that run-in. Four years was forever to most young people, especially college students. She could have had any number of events happen and that particular set of memories might be buried somewhere far back in her coarse mind.

Walter was now wishing he was better at telepathy and mind control, that he had been innately gifted with it instead of having to train so hard to get even the rudimentary skills down, as then he'd stand a chance at removing those memories and not have to worry about Master finding out. But he wouldn't dare risk it on an enchantress of unknown training level, even though she was likely barely adept with her personality being as impatient as it was, with his Master right there. One mistake and then it would be impossible to hide. He needed to increase his training on mentalist powers. This confirmed it.

Everyone settled into the van- with Seras next to the child, Master Alucard resuming his seat on the seer's hospital bed, and the hound now resting in the back on Valarie's bags- Walter concentrated on driving them to their destination and keeping his mind clear.

They had barely gone two streets when his master's sardonic voice came from the backseat, "Val, you obviously know your nephew, and have been introduced to myself and Seras." Walter's fingers tightened on the steering wheel again with dread, keen mind already processing the tone of voice he master was using and where this was likely going. He should have known his master was going to notice his disquiet and wouldn't permit an unknown variable to remain unknown for long. "You haven't been introduced to my elder fledgling and our driver for today, Walter C Dornez. Walter, this is our newest ally, Valerie Lombardi."

A split-second glance in the rearview mirror confirmed it. His master was wearing a knowing smirk, but his eyes were narrowed on him as he set the trap to find out just what Walter was hiding in regards to the human. Walter gritted his teeth, waiting for the metaphorical shoe to drop, as the human's gaze flicked to him.

"Nice to meet you," Val said without much enthusiasm, gaze already forward again. Then her brow scrunched and her gaze went back to the vampire sitting next to her.

Alucard gestured to Artemis and she opened her mouth. He turned his arm into shadows, which entered her mouth and began rifling about the extradimensional space she had sent their luggage to.

Walter gave a small nod to Val, eyes not leaving the road, hoping that she wouldn't be able to place why he seemed familiar. He was dressed quite differently from when she last saw him, afterall. If he didn't say hello, maybe she wouldn't remember him without the auditory stimulation.

He knew it was a futile hope, but he had hoped…

And that hope was shattered when the human's eyes blinked a few times in surprise, then got wide. A confused look passed briefly on her face, then she asked with a shade of indignity, "Angel?!"

Alucard pulled out the portable dvd player, checked to make sure it was charged and had a dvd in it, and then plugged in headphones from Mercedes' iPod that also manifested from his shadowy arm.

It took everything Walter had not to cringe at Val's exclamation. Why he should be cringing, when she was the one who was so boorish and should have had the decency to feel shame over her behavior, was solely because he knew his Master was going to start an interrogation any moment. If he didn't, Seras, who sat up straighter in the backseat upon hearing the exclamation from the human and was leaning forward, certainly would. Either way, how he had the misfortune to meet the young woman was about to come out.

Alucard floated the objects over to Xander and said telepathically, a hint of compulsion in his voice, "I'm sure you'll be bored by adult conversation and not want to pay attention to it, little lord. Enjoy a movie and relax some, maybe take a nap to catch up on sleep you missed this morning, while your Auntie Val catches up with Walter."

The boy nodded dazedly as the headphones hooked onto his small ears, eyes going to the movie that was already starting up. "Thanks, Vlad," he murmured.

Alucard smirked, attention already back on the happenings in the front seat, but said mentally, "Of course, Xander."

Walter managed to regain most of his composure after several seconds of silence. He gave an irritated sigh and, eyes still on the road, said reluctantly, "Walter will do just fine, Miss Lombardi. I see your manners and attention to etiquette have not improved."

The human stared at him in shock, as though he just slapped her in the face.

"Walter, you know Miss Mercedes' friend here?" Seras asked curiously. "How, may I ask? And why does she know you as Angel? Did you come across her on a mission over here?"

"Not precisely, Miss Seras," Walter said stoically.

"A mission?" Val asked with a disbelieving snort. "Hardly. Unless, Angel, was there some secret baddy for you to chase at the convention? Maybe that was why you kept hurrying off so quickly?"

"Convention?" Seras asked. "What convention?"

"I did not hurry off," Walter said to the impudent human, words chilly. "I took my leave of a persistent nuisance. And yes, Miss Seras, a convention. Which one doesn't matter, as it wasn't mission related and it was during my personal time."

"I'd like to hear about this convention and where it took place," Alucard said smoothly. "I don't recall you asking for time off for any sort of convention in more than a decade, and you clearly must have met her more recently than that."

"If you'd like details, Master Alucard, perhaps that would be more appropriate to be given privately," Walter said, trying not to let his voice sound defeated and simply neutral.

Valarie gave an unamused laugh at that. "Ohhh, right. Wouldn't want to cause _you_ any embarrassment while you're on the clock if it was known where you were in your off hours, hm? Save that for strictly other people and off the clock?"

"You are only proving my last parting statements all too true, _Chibi_ ," Walter said, spitting the pseudonym like it was a swear.

"For starters, it's now Jackal to those in the community and aren't close friends," Val said with just as much biting sarcasm. "And secondly, _Angel_ , you might want to look into removing that massive plug from your ass, as it's clearly been up for there for at least the last four years and is in need of a proper washing and allowing your sphincter a break."

Seras gave a shocked gasp and then coughed uncomfortably, entirely unsure what to make of the conversation or what, if anything to say to break it up.

"Did you just come up with that snipe?" Walter asked sharply. "Or have you been thinking on it for the last four years in case we ever crossed paths again and I once again turned down your requests or halt an attempt to strike said body part?"

Val shrugged and said cheekily, "Just thought it up. And while few would, and did, blame me for the attempt, can you really blame a girl when you were showing it off by wearing nothing but tight leather pants."

"I do believe that, especially here in America, such a statement, were it to be made in the reverse, would be decried as 'rape culture' and 'victim blaming'. However, as your attempt was inept, and you were barely an adult, I can understand why the coordinators felt you receiving a bruised wrist was punishment enough. Though, you clearly didn't learn a lesson from it. Perhaps I should have broken it." Despite Seras' exclamation of "Walter!", he continued on. "I can understand why that lesson might have been lost on you, however, as you were strutting around with your corpulent flesh being covered by nothing but a thong, stickers and hat…"

Val's jaw clacked together and her hands clenched tightly. She was clearly debating on attempting to punch him, but holding back perhaps because of how swiftly he had reacted the last time.

Seras was paler than usual, shocked by not just the ruthlessness being exchanged, but the realization of just _what kind_ of convention Walter, of all people, had been at.

"…You were clearly hoping for a sudden demonstration of attraction from anyone present, and perhaps you would have gotten it if they were blind and deaf. As you had such a low self-esteem and were looking for attention in any way you could get, perhaps you assume that everyone has the same motivations. As I told you then, they don't. And instead of being grateful your elders with vastly more experience were of high enough moral character to not take advantage of your pitiful state and forgave your transgressions, you are still sulking, years later, and being just as embarrassing, if in a different way."

"You'd think someone with your supposed vast experience would know better than to judge someone when they're so new to the community and still figuring things out," Val said briskly. She gestured at him dismissively, "But then, a, what? Butler? Chauffer?" She leaned forward a little and asked in a conspiratorial whisper, "Are you really a Dom as you portrayed, or are you really just a frustrated and under-performing submissive who got off his leash and away from his Dom or Damme's radar for the weekend?" She leaned back as she saw one of his hands start to raise with effort off the steering wheel, and said sarcastically in a normal volume, "Whatever hired help you are, apparently you feel it makes you so worldly and superior to someone like me, and you do have the pompous British accent to boot, so of course you feel you can judge. Unlike a vampire, I do have to make an effort to change my appearance, and 'corpulent' is certainly not an appropriate word to describe me anymore.

"Yet, as I've already deduced, you've still got that case of plug stuck in the ass." Valarie pointed at the vampire, shaking her finger a little. "Either you're a masochist, or you really pissed your top off. I suppose that with your vampiric superior healing you've got no worries of infections, but you've obviously over exerted your muscles and whatever build up you've garnered must be mightily uncomfortable. I know it's likely going to be dreadfully hard for you to wrench it out at this point, you might even end up with Pink Sock, dear Angel…"

"Pink Sock?" Seras muttered in disgust and confusion, hand over her mouth and grimacing. She wasn't sure what it was, but, given the conversation, figured she'd not like the answer.

Val was concentrated on her retort to Walter, "…but it'll correct itself with your powers, so do talk to your Dom about perhaps showing some mercy. Or, if you were going for the record of longest time holding one that big up there, you've obviously won that masochist competition, so give the other lads some barest glimmer of hope that one day they might supersede you."

Alucard was simultaneously saying to Seras via telepathy, "When one causes enough damage to another via anal penetration that the removal of the foreign object, especially done too swiftly, causes tearing and the colon is inverted and pulled out through the rectal opening. It frequently ends in death."

Seras gagged at the same moment as a dull crunch came from the steering wheel from Walter's fingers crushing into it.

Val raised an eyebrow and sucked on her teeth, popping her tongue off them. "Might want to be careful, _Angel_. If I remember correctly, your rope work requires your fingers to be in good working order. And in my semi-professional advice, as one who spent all her childhood summers helping her dad fix vehicles, you're not going to want to do that again, especially not two inches down where some of the wiring is and you might hit with your supernatural strength, as we need this car making it to the mountains."

"And in my wholly professional advice, Hyena or Shrew would have been a better pseudonym for yourself if you wanted something properly bestial to reflect your base nature," Walter said between gritted teeth. He willed his hands to relax, more for the sake of keeping the van in working order. His hands weren't that easily damaged. He continued almost conversationally, but the hint of malice was just discernable, "A pseudonym shouldn't be misleading and you're hardly a creature chosen by one of the death gods to represent them, but you are opportunistic and ever self-indulgently and mindlessly blathering on. Given you're obviously still a Brat, and one who is foolish enough to repeatedly provoke one who could strike her down in a single move, perhaps 'Sun-fried Hyena' would be the most apt to signal your lack of remaining cognitive ability.

"Also, I'm not concerned with the steering wheel. However, if you are, perhaps if I make certain that you won't feel anything, the ward will allow me to remove one of your ribs to create a makeshift replacement section. You certainly don't need all of your ribs, it would be in the interest of getting you to safety, and I would make certain to stitch you right up with my very best knots so you don't bleed out, so do you think it would no longer qualify as causing you harm or refusing to get you the help you need?"

"Regardless of how you try to word, it'd still be causing me harm and you'd never be able to," Valarie said, though her voice was shaky and she didn't sound as sure as her words attempted to be.

"Are you really so certain of that, Valarie?" Walter asked with icy calmness. "Just how intimately do you know the wards that you're trusting to protect you?"

Valarie swallowed against what felt like a lump in her throat and turned her gaze away. She trusted Mercedes and her knowledge of magic, especially when combined with Liam's, but Liam could misjudge something, as evidenced by Mercedes getting caught in the crossfire today. And the way "Angel" spoke just now, she was suddenly feeling less than confidant in the shield she had to protect her as she exacted a little revenge for how mean-spirited and humiliating the vampire had been several years ago, when she really had been nothing more than an admittedly stupid kid.

"Our resident Angel of Death actually brings up a good point," Alucard's smooth voice sliced through the tense silence. "You gave me a fairly comprehensive idea of what you knew of the wards, and I can understand that as you didn't create them you might not know everything. But what if your life, or the other two effected by the ward, was in danger and the only way to aid you was to cause a lesser harm? What then?"

Valarie coughed to clear her throat and then shrugged. She admitted honestly, not willing to provoke two vampires in just as many minutes, "I don't know exactly how semantics like that would work out. I mean, it causes a little pain to administer an IV needle or reset a bone, but I'd think you could do so to save one of us. I'm not sure how abstract that gets, though."

Alucard hummed thoughtfully for a second, adding it to the ever-growing list of "Things to Interrogate the Seer About" that he had running in his mind.

His gaze went to the child, who had remained quiet and distracted while the altercation was happening. Xander was no longer watching the movie. He was leaning against his door, curled up and fast asleep by his own volition.

Alucard smirked. Some things, no matter the era and precise superficial trappings, never changed. In a van that had poor shocks and bumped noticeably over the patched highway with a movie to be lulled by, or a horse-drawn carriage swaying as it bumped over a dirt path with a minstrel strumming out a song, small children inevitably fell asleep on long trips. All the better, as at least he knew without potentially warping the child what Walter was hiding (gaining the precise dates of this excursion would be dealt with in the near future to find out if it was in fact on Walter's private time and not when he was supposed to be working), hopefully those two had gotten the worst of their sniping out of the way now (though he wouldn't place bets on it), and now they could discuss some of the many other issues at hand (however much information he'd be able to get out of a secondary source like a best friend).

His gaze then went to Seras. She had managed to not throw up from disgust, but she was now hunched over with her face in her hands, looking absolutely miserable. Perhaps he had been a bit too blunt when informing her… And she certainly was sensitive about people fighting with one another. She wasn't going to much care for the next line of conversation, but it was necessary to engage in.

"Questions of the wards aside, Valarie," Alucard said, "we also have the pressing issue of discovering which Elders might condone, or even actively work towards, Mercedes being murdered, and Iscariot marking her and the child for death. Either or both of which may have connections to what happened earlier this week, or it may be unrelated. I need information from you to narrow down the potential culprits."

Val gave an irritated huff at the last part, then her brows furrowed together in confusion as she caught the previous part. "Wait. What happened earlier this week? And why the fuck would you think the Elders would want her dead?!"

"She didn't tell you what happened Sunday evening, even if excluding our introduction from it?" Alucard asked, slightly surprised.

Val turned around in her seat, getting up on her knees so she could look back at the progenitor of vampires over the seat's headrest. "Clearly not. What happened?"

"She was followed from the bar by four college students, who had been paid to rape and murder her, though she didn't know they were paid," Alucard said briefly, not getting graphic for Seras' sake as she still sometimes had unpredictable reactions when faced with such a scenario. "I discovered that part when I came to her aid and killed them."

Seras' head lifted as he spoke, fists clenching in her lap and shaking, but she remained silent.

Alucard could literally feel rage pouring off her, however. Seems he was right and the Police Girl was getting about at her limit for violence and depravity for the week. Too bad they didn't have another incursion with Iscariot to unleash her on right now. She was magnificent to behold when her control snapped and released her righteous wrath onto deserving cretins. As that couldn't be arranged at the moment, not pushing her over the edge would be best.

Color had drained from Val's face at the news and she asked in horror, "You're fucking kidding me!?"

"I wouldn't jest about something like that."

"But you don't know who set her up?" Valarie demanded.

"Not precisely," Alucard admitted stoically. "I saw who hired them in their memories, but Mercedes didn't recognize the man when I later inquired on it. So I can only assume that while it's not someone she personally slighted, they're an agent for someone else. I need to find that middle man to find out who hired the attack."

"And what makes you think it has anything to do with the Elders? Cuz I can tell you right now, that's insane."

"Hardly," Alucard said. "When you spoke with Liam this morning, did he tell you what happened to the two vampires apparently sent to protect the Seer and her child"

"Yeah, actually, he did" Val said matter-of-factly. "Fucking Iscariot killed Davin and did a number on Marrick."

Alucard raised an eyebrow mockingly. Well, now he knew the identities of those involved, and he was feeling even more justified in ordering the child not to be released to the local vampires if those involved were those in Liam's inner circle. "Oh? Is that what he told you?"

"Yes," Val hissed out. "So, again, why the hell would you think the Elders had anything to do with it?"

"Because Iscariot didn't come near the two vampires."

"Like fuck they didn't!" Val yelled. She took a shaky breath to steady her emotions, fingers digging into the top of the dingy seat cushion. She managed to say with a quieter voice, "Liam told me himself that Iscariot got them."

"Liam wasn't there; I was," Alucard said with a hint of icy fury. "I was tracking their movements and on my way by the time they got within range of the Seer's apartment. They went straight for her and the child. And just before their arrival, a ward hiding the two vampires dropped. I saw one vampire disintegrating as another sheathed his sword and then ran off. If what Liam says is true about what he was told by presumably the surviving vampire, if he wasn't in on it himself as well, then the surviving vampire who killed his fellow Elder got himself somewhere safe, likely inflicted wounds on himself to hide his collusion, and then lied to Liam about leaving the two humans to die."

"I might have some personal differences with Marrick," Val said in just as chilly a voice, "but I know that he wouldn't go against an order Liam gave, and that he has no problems with Mercedes. He's one of her closest friends. And if you expect me to believe that he killed Davin, his own elder vampiric brother, you're fucking insane. That's not Marrick."

"No?" Alucard asked sarcastically. "So then how do you explain what I saw firsthand, compared to what Liam told you?"

"I don't fucking know," Valarie admitted begrudgingly, fingers digging deeper into the seat until her knuckles started turning white. "But I know how things work, and I know that's not it. So you saw something wrong, or something else was going on that you didn't see."

"I know what I saw," Alucard snapped out, fangs flashing. "And the Seer had someone, possibly a vampire, but most certainly supernatural, stalking her the night after the failed rape and murder attempt. So rethink whatever illusions you've been fed about the Elders because at least one, likely more, are not what you think they are!"

Val cringed back in fear under the flaming stare of the progenitor of vampires, forgetting that there was a ward that should, theoretically, protect her.

"I presume, Master Alucard," Walter said quietly, "that the event at the beginning of this week was why you inquired after certain information?'

"Yes, Walter, it was," Alucard said neutrally. "I was trying to narrow down possible culprits and motives as the Seer didn't seem to have any insight on who might be stalking her and wanting her dead outside Iscariot."

"Understood. That's not exactly Iscariot's modus operandi," Walter agreed. "Though, as you must have already considered, the timing is rather close to when Iscariot did make moves to kill her and the child."

"Indeed," Alucard said flatly. "But the first attempt was only on her. Also, Iscariot seems to have a spy among the Elders, as one of the operatives I drained was part of a team that knew some things about the Elders that they shouldn't have. If that spy or spies wished to not be caught, it's possible they wanted the Seer dead before the attack commenced so she couldn't get a vision and warn the other elders. Or it may be entirely unrelated and have been done by someone else who had a different sort of grudge against the Seer. Whatever the circumstances, we need to find out so we can plan accordingly to eliminate the threats."

"How are you going to do that?" Valarie asked.

"First, by asking you some questions," Alucard said. "Starting with, how did she get the scarring that covers her legs?"

Seras asked before Valarie could answer, "What scarring, Master?"

"You're happier not having the answer to that right now, Police Girl," Alucard said, not unkindly, even if briskly. He could sense Seras's senses reaching out to look for herself. He shook his head as he saw her tense up and her rage flaring higher. He told her mentally, "I warned you." She gave a brief nod, teeth gritting audibly.

"What's that got to do with this?" Valarie was asking in a clipped voice.

"If the one who caused that scarring is still alive, despite her powers being what they are, they are certainly a disturbed individual with significant power of their own and could be a part of the more recent plots on her life," Alucard answered. "Someone like that with a grudge against her would make an easy pawn to manipulate and learn weaknesses of hers to then attempt to exploit."

"I wouldn't put it past him…" Valarie muttered with returning fury of her own now. Her jaw clenched as she gave a furious huff, then she glanced to the child, still sleeping peacefully. "If we're going to keep having a discussion like this, we're pulling over so I can smoke. Mercedes would have my head if I smoke in a vehicle with the kiddo present, and I need a smoke if I'm going to talk any more about this."

Alucard nodded, at least having the confirmation that the culprit was male and alive. "We can spare a short stop. Walter, if you would?"

"Yes, Master Alucard," Walter said.

Valarie turned back around in her seat, brooding silently as she waited. Walter found a place to pull into, the parking lot of an out of business "Italian Ice" dessert store.

"Seras," Alucard said quietly once they were parked. "Why don't you find yourself a late breakfast while I get some of the answers I need. There's a few potentials just a bit to the east of here, lounging in a stairwell in the alley. You are not going to be able to get a proper rest in these close confines, so you need to take what means are available to keep your strength up for the day."

Seras looked as though she might disagree, but then her jaw clenched again and she gave a nod. "That might be a good idea. Thank you, Master."

Seras opened her door a crack, shifted to shadows, and darted out of the van in the direction her Master indicated. Whoever was over there, they were apparently worthy of being eaten.

Blowing people up, engaging them in battle, sure, she could handle that with little mental unrest these days… But a combination of attempted rape and murder and mutilation… That still made her most horrific memories want to rise up and she had a hard time controlling her anger when she came across it. No, she didn't want to think about those memories, and she wanted to tangibly release her anger. It'd be cathartic to rip a few throats open at the moment.

Seras came to the narrow alley way and found it led towards a more residential street. And as Master promised, there was three young men, no more than 20 years old, sitting on a worn down stairway- unwashed, scruffy, and passing vodka around. "Ugh… It's barely noon… And they don't even look old enough to be drinking in this country!"

She noticed one, sitting sideways on the stairs and with his back to her, had a gun tucked into his waistband. The one sitting at the top of the stairs had a switchblade tucked into his boot. The third didn't appear to be armed.

A pair of long, sharp, gleaming fangs appeared within the shadows. Easy pickings. She could keep this quiet and not draw attention. Hopefully they weren't too drunk yet; she hated vodka-tainted blood.

.

.

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A/N: It's not perfectly edited, but the chapter is done; and I have left you folks hanging enough as it is. Hope you enjoy. Next Chapter is going to get gristly as Alucard "interrogates" a possible lead- you were warned.


	34. Grab your pitchforks

Grab the pitchforks and torches, I'll wait a moment because I know you'll want them...

Got them?

Alright.

Here's the deal. My life has been a great big clusterfuck the last two months. Like I posted in a previous update (now removed) my adopted mother died, a dear friend tried to commit suicide, and then some little stuff happened in May.

June has been even worse. Yes. Worse. May was full of death and near death of those dear to me, so that tells you something when I say this month was worse.

I've managed to write bits and pieces, here and there, as momentary flashes of inspiration hit me. Hellsing has 160 pages done, but still working on the connector scenes. Dragonlance has 80, but again need a few connecting chapters. HP has 5 chapters, but again, connections need to be made.

And, to be honest, I'm now not sure when I'll get those in between chapters done. I have been under a great deal of ever-increasing stress. The last month, when I haven't crashed from exhaustion, I sit at the computer at 3am, trying to maybe eek out a chapter when I finally have a quiet moment, but it just isn't leaving my head and forming words. Not proper ones, anyway. The attempts I've made constitute literary travesties. Bashing my own work in this update has been more eloquent and lengthy than my attempts at my original works and my fanfics.

You've all been great, and I feel bad about leaving these stories hanging. So I'm letting you know that I'm at a writer's block the size of mount Olympus and I'm not sure when/how I'll be scaling it because every time I try, I fall off the mountain and into a pit that is getting deeper each time my impacts disrupt the earth. And now I'm so exhausted that I'm sitting at the bottom of that pit and have realized it's just above my reach to pull myself out again.

I guess I'm asking for patience while I try to dig my way out?

If that's in short supply, strike quick and clean with the pitchforks and build a proper pyre?

Or, if you've got a few spare minutes and don't want to wait an indeterminate time to get your next fanfic-fix, toss me some encouragement and maybe it'll pile up enough at the bottom of this creativity-sucking-pit that it'll allow me to boost myself up and climb on out, and maybe even give me just enough extra to get climbing this mountain and conquer it?

I sincerely hope you all have had much better months than mine have been. And, one way or other, at some point in time, I will try to get my stories finished, as I'd like to see the characters get the endings they deserve.

~SoI


	35. Chapter 34 Tying Up Loose Ends Part 2

Chapter Thirty-Four

Tying Up Loose Ends Part 2

Valarie leaned against the front of the idling van, lighting her Marlboro cigarette and deeply inhaling on the menthol laced smoke. She was thinking on everything Alucard had told her about what he believed about the events of the last week.

Mercedes was attacked earlier this week by men hired to rape and murder her. His Royal Fangness had come to her aid and discovered when he drank their blood that some guy unknown to Mercedes had done the hiring. At some point later, Mercedes had a vision tipping her off that Iscariot goons were going to kill her and the little dude. Mercedes, for some fucking reason, decided to ask the gods damned progenitor of vampires to help her against Iscariot. Which, given his frequent engagements with them, might be justifiable. They had come up with some sort of plan to stop Iscariot. Liam sent Marrick and Davin to protect Mercedes just before shit went down. Alucard says Marrick killed Davin and ran off uninjured. Liam, however, says Iscariot got them both, with Marrick just barely surviving to call for backup. Either way, the hullabaloo downtown happened, Iscariot got to Mercedes first, injured her, and Alucard then fought Iscariot. Alucard brought Mercedes to the hospital for aid, triggered the wards by being a fucking idiot, and now here they were.

Which begs the question, why the fuck was Iscariot going after Mercedes, and who the balls hired the college boys? The dead college boys…

'Son of a fucking bitch,' Val thought, taking another deep drag off her cigarette. 'College boys went missing right by Mercedes' work, supposedly after a bar crawl!' She let out the smoke in an angry puff. 'I called her and she acted like she didn't fucking know! Why the hell didn't she say anything?!'

That aside, and she was going to be having a big talk with Mercedes about keeping so many secrets from her this past week, they had no idea who hired the bastards. Alucard thought it might be Iscariot trying to cover their tracks before an attack on the Elders, or someone with a personal grudge, like the son of a whore that disfigured Mercedes…

Valarie grit her teeth at the thought. Mercedes really should've let Tukiko san and Fumiko kill the prick when they offered… Another angry inhale, having to actively concentrate on not crushing the cigarette between fingers that wanted to really be strangling the shit out of the bastard… Damned promises being bound to be upheld… Angry exhale… Well, she didn't know what the truth of the matter was with Marrick, but she knew how Mercedes was injured. And she wasn't ever bound by any oaths or vows. Whether or not the fucker was guilty of the current attack, pointing His Royal Fangness in his direction and letting him get some comeuppance for his past fuckery was fine by her.

A muffled yell of male origin came from the direction the drac-y babe darted off in. Apparently Seras was getting her own violence on. She almost felt bad for whoever was brunch for the vampire, given how swift and strong she had already shown to be.

Val looked over to Alucard, who was standing just a few feet away, arms crossed and expression stoic. Gods, he was a lanky one, wasn't he? And did he really have to glower at her like that? She hadn't done anything wrong, she hadn't asked to be here, but she came along because part of her family got mixed up in this bullshit and she wanted to make sure they stayed safe. Anger at both the situations and the vampire in front of her were evident as she said, "So you want to know what soulless fuck scarred up Mercedes?"

Alucard gave a small nod. "I have a suspicion, but I need actual information on both the person and how they did so."

Val gave a disgusted huff and shook her head, looking away. After another drag off her cigarette, she looked back at the vampire. "It was her fucking douchebag, deadbeat, cheating ex-husband." She saw Alucard's eyes narrow a fraction. "Real nice, huh? After everything else he pulled, he topped it off with torture as he was getting off a burnout."

"How, precisely, did he cause that sort of damage, and why?" Alucard asked, managing to keep his tone level.

"Do you know what a Phoenix is?"

"I'm going to assume you don't mean the mythical bird of fire that can't be killed."

"Not quite, but it's not far off," Valarie said grimly. "There's a rare kind of magic user that are called Phoenixes and when ancient legends or ritual ingredients mention the birds, they were really talking about them. Brian is one of them. He says it came from either the Persian or Mongolian bits of his bloodline. Whichever fucker it was that he inherited it from, they passed on a massive amount of innate magic that goes raging inside him. It manifests as fire. He can manipulate it, and mundane fires, and can't be harmed by either. Made him the best bomb squad member his unit had.

"The magic also enhances his personal healing capabilities to a level that'd make vampires envious. Unlike what legends say, he can be killed, but it's no easy task given a Phoenix's abilities. You have to get them on a burnout, or somehow do enough damage that even they can't heal from it quick enough. But all that magic rampaging in them takes its toll, so every once and awhile their body shuts it down. Puts them back at normal human healing capabilities and makes them even more aggressive and moody as fuck. It's like coming off a bad drug bender. Which is what got Brian released early from the military. He started going into a burnout and got into a fight with the wrong people. And even with the burnouts as a way for a Phoenix's body to cope with the magic, the increased healing takes its own toll. Phoenixes aren't immortal like vampires and the more their healing factor is put to use, the more they speed up their aging process. Or, what's likely to happen in the flaming shitgibbon's case, they really put their body through a bunch of abuse and it just suddenly gives out one day." Val paused to take a few drags off her cigarette as it had nearly stopped smoldering.

"How frequently do these burnouts occur, and how long do they last?" Alucard asked.

Valarie shrugged. "Not sure. I know Brian had one at some point in high school that lasted some months. Mercedes only mentioned it in passing one time. It was just before they met. Not sure if he had any in the years between then and the one that got him booted from the military. But the one that got him booted from the military lasted several months."

Val took a last drag off her cigarette and flicked it to the ground. She worked through trying to remember the exact timeline out loud. "The fight happened as he was starting to lose his powers, shortly after they got married, which would make it early in January… They snuffed it entirely just before Valentine's Day, which was when she dropped the bomb that she was newly pregnant. He wasn't cheered by the news like she had hoped he'd be. What should have been the honeymoon period and joyous celebration of baby on the way was spent with him secretly making Mercedes' life a living hell. She called me to tell me what happened three weeks later, which was just after momom's birthday… So backtracking, that'd put it towards the end of June that he burned her, which means he lost his powers for about four and a half months..." Val's eyes widened as she realized something, and she started counting back the days in her mind.

Alucard said, an icy note returning to his voice as he came to the logical conclusion just a bit faster, "Last Sunday or Monday was the six year anniversary of his attack on her?"

Val went over the numbers again in her mind, then said, "It was two days after the Summer Solstice, which fell on the 22nd that year, so that would make it the 24th. Monday was six years."

"Which, if there's any consistency to his burnouts, he is either on one or coming off one," Alucard mused. "Which could account for some rash, violent decision making."

Val nodded a couple of times, pulling out another cigarette. "Possibly, yeah. If he's on a burnout, he's vulnerable and pissed right now. Full overcompensating, raging sociopath mode. If he's just getting his powers back, he's going to be at his scariest and power tripping. Either way, not good. But I'd be hoping for burnout."

Alucard gave a chilling smirk, which broadened a fraction when the human before him cringed and quickly lit her cigarette to try hiding it. "You'd hope for it, yes. You're human. I, however, would prefer dealing with him at his full strength and bringing him to ruin."

Val gave a nervous laugh. "I'm sure you would."

Alucard glanced over to Walter, who was standing off to the side, silently smoking his favored black-clad, slow-burning, clove mini cigars. "What do you know about all this, Angel?'

Walter looked up, exhaled, then gave a small shrug. "I know as much as you at this point. I have heard rumors of Phoenixes. However, I thought them to be merely that- rumors. I would think that this would be well within your capabilities to handle. After all, as the human said, he is still human, just enhanced. And his enhancements are limited. I would judge that you are capable of doing enough damage to overwhelm his constitution."

Alucard nodded. "Well then, I suppose I should test the Seer's curse and discover just how far I can go from her side."

"Um… While I'm all for Brian getting his long overdue asskicking," Valarie said, "is it such a good idea to do so right now? Like, right now, right now? We've kinda gotta worry about Iscariot and you two facing off is gonna draw attention."

Alucard smirked again as his gaze fell on the human. "How little you know of what I can do. I'll make sure they're not tipped off to what precisely caused his death."

Val gave a small nod. "Whatever you say."

"Speaking of powers," Walter said stoically, gaze also going to Val. "Your mentor mentioned that you had a gift of your own that she thought could aid in protecting her son should something happen to her. Care to elaborate so we know what you are capable of doing to contribute?"

Val's eyes narrowed on him and she said with clear vindictive anticipation, "Let me see your hand, Angel."

"What are you going to do?" Alucard interjected before Walter could take the bait, sensing a chaotic sort of energy starting to swirl around the human's unoccupied hand.

"Little trick, really," Valarie said, though now less anxious to show off when addressing the elder vampire. "But it's effective."

Alucard held his own hand out. "Then you won't mind showing me."

Val's hand stopped halfway to allowing herself another drag on her cigarette. "Come again?"

"Use your 'little trick' on me," Alucard repeated.

Valarie gave another nervous laugh. "Yeah… Um… how about not."

"Scared? Of what?" Alucard asked mockingly. "That it won't work?"

"Either that, or it will, and then you're going to tear my head off cuz it did," Val said, then took a long drag off her cigarette.

"Just what is it that you do?" Walter asked.

"I touch someone, and they see their worst nightmare played out in 3D hallucinations around them," Valarie said. "It's kinda like forcing a vision, except I make someone else have it."

Seras's shadow form rose up and reformed a few steps behind the human, and she said as she did so, "Then perhaps you should keep your power to yourself. That's the last thing anyone here needs."

Val let out a startled gasp and jumped a little, her cigarette dropping onto her sneaker. She kicked her foot out, but there was a singe on the lace. "Fucking hell! These were only a month old!" She turned around to face Seras, saying, "You're lucky more damage wasn't done, or your boss would owe me new sneakers too!"

"Not my fault you spook easily," Seras said briskly. Her nose wrinkled in disgust, "I hope you brought a toothbrush, because those cigarettes of yours smell terrible."

"It's smooth menthols!" Val said indignantly. "Next to cloves, they're the best smelling."

"If you say so," Seras said, taking a step back and waving her hand between them. "Just don't say so so close to my face."

"Back on topic, children," Alucard said impatiently. "How reliable is this gift of yours, Valarie?"

"Only ever failed on Liam," Val said, turning back around. "He's got incredible mind wards up all the time."

"I hadn't noticed…" Alucard said sarcastically.

"Why'd you attempt to use your gift on an Elder?" Walter asked.

"Most of the time, training sessions," Val said with a shrug. "Can't have weak humans chilling with Elders and all. Last time was trying to get back at him for being a dick."

"I see…" Walter said. He went back to smoking his own cigarette, but shot a meaningful glance to his master.

"And what instance was that?" Alucard asked.

"None of your business," Valarie said, looking down at her cigarette pack and pulling out another to replace the fallen.

"Is that so?" Alucard asked.

"Yes," Valarie said, lighting the cigarette. "It was a personal dispute."

"Regarding?"

"Again, none of your fucking business," Valarie said. "Elder business is Elder business, even when it's personal. You may be His Royal Fangness, but you're outside the Elders. I live where Elders rule, and I do plan to come home eventually, so you can get used to not knowing certain shit."

"Quite the strangehold they have on your answers," Walter said sarcastically. "Perhaps I should ask Liam how he managed to command such discretion."

"Awww," Val said with fake enthusiasm. "The baby Dom is willing to admit that he needs to go to his elders from guidance and isn't all knowing. So glad to see you putting your big boy leathers on."

Walter's eyes narrowed, but as he opened his mouth to respond Alucard snapped out, voice becoming multi-tonal and growling, "Enough! The both of you!" Val froze where she stood and Walter's mouth snapped shut, the both of them ducking their heads. "You two are worse than bitterly separated lovers. Come to some sort of cease fire before those cigarettes are finished because I am not tolerating this the entire time we need work together."

"Yes, Master Alucard," Walter said through gritted teeth.

"Yep, sure," Val said quickly at the same time.

Alucard shook his head in disgust and then looked to Seras. "Go sit in the van with the child, I'm going to start testing the distance limits of this ward the Seer placed." His gaze went to Walter. "Truce, before that cigar is done. Then you get moving if I haven't returned."

"Yes, Master Alucard," Walter said with a brief nod, back to wholly professional demeanor.

Alucard shook his head again and then disintegrated into his shadow form.

The sire of vampires discovered that he could travel approximately a kilometer and a half from the Seer.

Attempting to go more than 200 meters, his mind started to turn against him, tried to make him second guess his decision to leave her side. What if one of the elders hadn't fallen for his trick and was tracking them, and attacked while he was absent? He shut that down by reminding himself that he'd sense them well before they could pick up on him. What if Mercedes' health took a sudden turn for the worse and she needed immediate aid? Walter could handle it. He had a great deal of experience with modern medicine and emergency response.

On and on the recriminations went, but he shut them down.

400 meters, he felt his speed slowing down, the mark bound to him starting to burn and emanating energy to counteract his own.

He was at a human's walking pace by a kilometer. At that point, Walter had gotten the van moving and he simply waited to see how far the van could go before something happened.

At a kilometer and a half, a painful flair of energy shot through him and started dragging him quite abruptly after the van. He felt like a fucking kite trailing the vehicle.

Indignant and thoroughly fed up with the magic's effect, he shadowed back into the van and resumed his place at the end of the Seer's hospital bed.

"That was a decent distance," Seras said to her master when he became corporeal.

"Hardly," Alucard said laconically, glare on the Seer.

"At least it's not a choke chain of a few yards," Valarie said, entirely unsympathetic. "Next time, don't go biting magic users."

Alucard's glare shifted to the human. "Being bound to remain so close can be even more dangerous for the Seer. What if an enemy needs be routed?"

"Better do it within the boundaries you're giving, or you're barking at the end of your chain," Valarie said with a smirk.

"Can you send familiars off further?" Walter asked stoically.

Alucard sent off one of his hounds. The hound could move beyond the limits of his master. "Yes, I can."

Walter nodded. He grudgingly asked of Valarie, "And we are not under the same limitations?"

"Not that I know of. You're not the one who did the biting."

"You were far further while she was hospitalized," Alucard reminded Walter.

Walter nodded. "That's right, we were. I didn't consider that."

"Master, how do you plan to check into whether or not her ex-husband has anything to do with this mess within such a limitation?" Seras asked. "I don't think it wise to allow him so close to Mercedes and the child."

"I'll locate him, and have you park within the limitation somewhere discrete. Then I do what I need to and make sure he doesn't run," Alucard said dismissively.

"And what are you planning to do?" Val asked,

"That depends entirely on whether he was involved in recent events or not."

"If it gets physical, I want video of it," Val said matter-of-fact. "After everything he did, I'd like to see him get what he deserves."

Alucard smirked. "You may regret making the request."

"Doubtful," Valarie said. "I'm not squeamish and he deserves a lot after what he did to Mercedes while they were married."

Alucard gave a single nod. "Video is not watched in the presence of the child, and is immediately destroyed after."

"Deal," Valarie said with a grin over her shoulder to the vampire. "Apparently we can agree on one thing at least."

"It's bound to happen once or twice," Alucard said with a bloodthirsty grin returning, thoughts already debating on the appropriate possible punishments.

.

.

.

Brian was having a really shitty couple of weeks. The sort of shitty weeks that always seemed to happen when he was on a burn out and just coming off it.

First off, his stripper mistress went and got herself knocked up and wanted to hold him hostage for the abortion money because she didn't want to ruin her mediocre career. He gave her the cash to keep her quiet, then she still went and told his girlfriend they had been having a little fun in the back room when shifts were ending.

That led to him having to crash at Jonas' place for the last three weeks and hitching rides to their bouncing job together. Bros before hos, at least Jonas got it.

But then some drunken prick wanted to get fresh with one of the girls. He lost his temper and broke the guy's hand. Now he's suspended from work for a month to let shit cool down. Dude was lucky he wasn't made into a fucking extra crispy chicken. What sort of bitch threatens a lawsuit over a broken hand? It was like two bones broken. IF he was at his normal strength, every bone in the drunk's hand would've been crushed.

But whatever. A month off work he could handle. At least he wasn't fired. He hooked his boss up with all his drugs, so boss man wasn't going to fire him.

However, when he had first gotten back to the house, he was still pissed. He was going through their current stock and debating what to try hawking on some clients, and that's when he discovered his powers were starting to return. He accidentally lit up $5k in drugs with a sudden burst of fire. Got one hell of a high as he put out the flames, having to resort to mundane means by smothering it out because he barely could keep it contained with his power dying back down.

Club boss might be malleable, but drug boss wasn't. And he was gonna be pissed about the loss. How the fuck was he supposed to explain away a $5k loss? "Whoops, sorry man, but you know, I'm a legendary phoenix and it just went up. Happens sometimes when I'm coming off a metaphysical burnout, my fire gets a bit unpredictable."

Yeah, no. Not gonna fly. Plus, had to keep that shit at "plausible deniability" level of conceal if he didn't want to end up in someone's sights.

Not to mention he now owed Jonas a new carpet in the basement.

But then, then he and Nic came up with a plan to get this shit all sorted. Made a few calls, kick back and party while everything sorted itself out. Thought his luck was turning around cuz Nic's guy, Frank, swore he could easily take care of it. They had a couple of killer nights of bonfires, booze, drugs, and adoring bitches who wanted a ride on his cock.

Fuck Micha and fuck Britney. He had all the attention he wanted with a snap of his fingers, and he was about to go from having some excess cash to more than he could blow through before he hit final burnout.

Except Nic's guy botched everything up. Fucking amateurs. He had to call off the house parties and spend the last four and a half days hunting down Frank to contain the situation. Frank was now tied up and gagged in the basement. He'd deal with that prick later. Fucking run from a Phoenix, would he? Ha! Fuck that ginger prick, he'd learn. But not til tomorrow.

They had a party to host, a belated solstice bash. And his powers were FINALLY fucking back reliably. So it was party his ass off, hopefully make a shit ton of cash tonight and pound out some frustrations into a few willing hotties, then let Frank know just how bad he fucked up and dispose of him. With everything else going on, he and Nic were pretty sure that'd cover their tracks enough and that'd be the end of that. Still needed to keep his head down until he found out if the bitch was dead or not, but at least now he could look completely free and clear. At least the zealots were good for dealing with his problems for him. Third time now, hopefully. If he wasn't worried about the zealots finding out about him, he'd send them a fucking thank you card.

If she wasn't, though… he'd figure out what to do about his financial issues once he was sober. Maybe he'd finally drag her little ass back to court and bleed the money out of her that way. Bitch didn't want him near his own little legit phoenix, maybe she'd have to pay for it. He really didn't feel like thinking about that bullshit right now though.

Goddamn exs and them leeching off him as much as they could. They're the ones that got pregnant and then wanted to try reining him in like them being pregnant changed things all of a sudden. Besides his little phoenix, the rest were weak mundane offspring without the slightest flicker of his heritage. Either they weren't his and those bitches had cheated too, or they were just too weak and couldn't create a legit line of his. He doubted the mothers cheated, not with the way he rocked their worlds. Which meant they were just fucking weak and made weak offspring. Weak offspring could fend for themselves, not his fucking problem. That's how natural order went. Those basic human bitches could keep their guilt trips.

Fuck them all. He was a mother fucking phoenix. His people always flew free and incinerated anything in their paths that tried to stop them.

'And on that note,' he thought in forced good humor, trying to psyche himself up as he checked over his poi equipment, 'this mother fucking phoenix is planning on getting his fire moves on. I am back and hotter than ever!'

He could hear the music blaring from the backyard's sound system, (hoorah for being in a quiet burb where the nearest neighbor was more than half a mile away so they could party in peace,) and it was calling his primal nature to dance to it. And there was definitely a few asses in attendance that he hadn't tapped yet and were just waiting for him to give the nod. He'd have them quivering quick enough, make it clear that he was the baddest fucker with the best moves here. They always got weak kneed for his fire tricks, a few war hero stories following it up had them eating out of his palm, and then he could vent some pent up energy that he really needed to burn off until it stabilized on its own.

Satisfied that his custom chains and ropes would last through a performance, he slung the weighted lengths over his bare shoulder, grabbed his headdress from the bedpost and maneuvered the leather, bone and blood-red feathers into place over his waist-length raven-black hair.

Glancing himself over in the mirror, he decided he was definitely looking good tonight. Shirtless and skin tight, black worn-leather pants showing off the physique he kept without effort by virtue of his supernatural metabolism. Six pack abs and rippling muscles you couldn't get at a gym, and the fact that he was the best hung guy at the party evident by how far down his cock pressed against the length of thigh and could be seen thanks to the pants. The new tat on his chest completed the designs he had drawn up. Supposedly, according to lore, the combinations would extend his party years a few more years, help him regulate a bit better. He'd find out tonight if it was bullshit or not. Even if it was bullshit, the cuneiform script combined with the glyphs made for a sick mural of abstract fire and phoenixes across his deeply tanned skin.

"Shit," Brian cursed, noticing his eyeliner had smudged slightly at some point this evening. He rubbed the smudge off, quickly fixed the tribal pattern it flared off in. Next up was going to be the facial tats so he didn't have to bother with the eyeliner any more. That was purely cosmetic, so it had waited, but it would finish off the look.

Everything as it should be, he flashed his trademark "Devil may care" grin. "Time to take flight and light this shit up," he muttered as he grabbed the canister of oil for the poi balls to be dipped in once he was in the pit. He headed back down to the party at a jog, whistling along to the Rammstein song currently blaring out of Jonas' sweet new system. Definitely worth that extra runs they had done for it.

Brian was barely through the back porch doors when he came across Ryan chatting up some already drunk and halfway pretty chick at one of the booze tables.

Ryan spotted him and grinned, hailing him with stein in hand. "Yo! There's my man, Phoenix! Gonna get swinging finally?"

"You know it." Brian said with a widening grin, veered to the table and sniffed the stein. Head rearing back in disgust at the strong, acrid scent, he asked, "Fuck, Ry, what are you drinking?"

Ryan shrugged his pale shoulders. "I dunno. Hottie chick over there that Jonas showed up with from his liquor run brought it. Smells rank, but tastes awesome and packs a punch."

Brian accepted the stein and took a small swig. If you didn't gag on the smell, it did taste pretty good. Kind of like a really sharp absinth, but with a mead-honey after taste that took the edge off the burn.

Taking another sip and enjoying the alcohol-induced warmth in his stomach, his blue gaze darted in the direction Ryan had gestured to. Whatever this was, he wanted to ask Jonas' flavor of the night what it was so they could get some cases. It took him a minute to locate Jonas in the crowd, and by proxy his date, as the area was lit only by the perimeter torches and the flashing laser lights on the dance floor and fire pits, the lights coming from the sync system they had rigged in the massive oak trees next to them.

But damn, when Brian did spot Jonas on the far side of the backyard clearing, sitting on the supply table, he had to admit Ryan wasn't applying his usual low standards when he said Jonas' catch was a hottie. Long gleaming black hair that had glimmering golden and blood-red beads woven through some locks and went down to her knees, drawing attention to slender legs that went for miles. And though she had a narrow waist, the black lace bell-sleeved shirt with red rose buttons down the meager front she wore showed her full pale chest to its absolute glory. Gods those were some perky tits for being big. Wonder if they're fake? Hope they're not. She was turning away from his general direction to whisper something in Jonas' ear and her hair shifted just enough to show off a firm ass being barely covered by the tight black leather skirt she wore. And her sheer tights with hems going down the backs of her legs in a perfect line, to fuck-me heels of black leather, lacy straps, and red heels. Damn, those legs. Just kept coming back to them. He hadn't seen legs that nice since his ex-wife's; at least, until she threatened to walk on him.

A couple, necking with one another, stumbled a little to the left and cut off the view just as Jonas shared a laugh with his new lay. Brian groaned in disappointment and found himself thinking that if Jonas couldn't keep this one interested on his own, he'd ask to tap in. Wouldn't be the first time they'd tag teamed and she was certainly hot enough to make it worth the share.

Ryan was saying something to his own potential lay about one of their military exploits. Brian took another swig of the mystery drink, handed it back, said a few words to the girl about what a fucking champ Ryan had been on that mission to bolster her opinion of the wiry spitfire that was his back up, then left him to his bragging. Dude had covered his ass several times so the higher ups never found out how he managed to be just so fucking lucky with the bombs, let him crash with him when he was getting divorced, and now watched his back on all their runs, so he was welcome to brag and steal a little of the spotlight if it meant getting laid. Anyone else, well, they'd be reminded who the real fucking star of their show was real quick. But everyone else in their immediate circle knew better anyway. They didn't overstep their fucking lines. Not if they wanted him to keep on keeping them all raking in the cash to keep these good times going.

It took Brian a solid minute to reach Jonas, there had to be at least 100 people he had had to weave between. They were probably pushing near three hundred total. Not a bad crowd at all, especially given that some people were a little miffed the parties had been called off earlier this week. Ah well, they'd get over it. Not like anyone else threw half the party they did, with this much free liquor and munchies flowing, nor had half the variety of drugs to sell that they did. The drugs definitely paid off these parties and gave them plenty of profit to send back to their supplier. Liquor quality was getting scaled back the next few weeks to help make up a portion of the difference for the supply loss, but no one seemed sober enough after the first half hour to notice. Good to know they could be forgiven for the cheap stuff, but it'd be nice to get back to the good stuff again.

'Speaking of the good stuff,' Brian thought as he made his way to Jonas to ask his date about the drink and gauge how cute she was up close, (please, don't let her have the face of a hound to offset a body like that!) 'smells like Jonas has pulled out his stash. Definitely want to fire up one of those before I get lost in the music. Fucking fire is already burning off my buzz. One down side to being back to normal….'

Jonas caught sight of him when he was about five feet away, looking up from necking his date to take a drag off his joint. And as he called out a greeting, his date turned to see where his attention had gone off to. And at that moment, as the creamy-skinned, drop-dead gorgeous woman turned a red-tinted glasses-concealed gaze his way, is when Brian noticed a faint tremor of dark energy directly in front of him.

He stopped where he was and gave a small nod to them both, recognizing that sort of energy immediately. That was a vamp Jonas was necking with. Not a very powerful one, as she was only giving off a small energy signature, but still a vamp. Didn't recognize this one from the local scenes, so maybe an out of towner. Jonas knew that ground, so it was his choice if he wanted to go playing with fanged fire. "Hey, Jonas. Wanted to get a smoke off you and find out what drink your girl is passing around."

"Yeah, sure," Jonas said with a nod and in an obvious pleased mood. "Babe, what's that stuff called again?"

"Nothing you Americans would recognize or be able to pronounce," the woman purred in an Eastern European accent that Brian thought might be native Romanian. "But it is from my home country." She ran a long nail across Jonas' lower lip, smirking seductively, "I thought you might be enjoying a taste of it if I brought it."

Jonas grinned and tried to nip at her finger, but she pulled it away at the last moment. "Oh yeah, I'm enjoying the tastes of everything you've brought."

" _Bun_. I wouldn't want to leave you dissatisfied," she said teasingly.

Brian rolled his eyes. "Jonas. Smoke. I want to fire one up before I get in the pit."

"Yeah, right," Jonas said, jolted back to attention. He lifted the baggy pant leg to pull a small strapped bag from its hiding place above his boot.

The vampire glanced with passing interest in Brian's direction, glancing him up and down. "Fire dancer, da?"

"Da," Brian said with a nod, taking the offered joint from Jonas. "Learned a bit from my Roma family, the rest from the scene."

"Roma?" the vampire said with more interest, tips of fangs showing as she smiled wider. "As in gypsies?" To his nod, she said, "You don't say?"

"Da, I do say," Brian said. He gave a wink as the tip of the joint "spontaneously" lit.

The vampire leaned forward a little as she purred out, "What a pleasure to see talent from the old world still circulating. You're one who is full of surprises, aren't you?"

"You haven't seen the half of it, yet," Brian said with a flash of his own winning grin.

The vampire's smirk lessened a tiny fraction and she waved a hand dismissively, but her eyes were still raking over him as she said, "I've seen many things, perhaps you're all talk."

Brian leaned in now and purred back, "Esti beat de apa rece daca crezi ca o sa vorbesc minciuni unei femei frumoase ca tine."

The vampire's eyes flared a little brighter with hellfire as her beguiling smile returned. Brian felt himself lean in closer as she did, and she whispered in his ear, "Cum te cheamă?"

"People I like call me Phoenix," Brian whispered back, then gave a nip to her ear. "Si tu?"

She let out a teasing growl that sent a jolt of lust straight to his cock. "Impress me and perhaps I tell you." She giggled and pulled away, turning to Jonas, who was watching the exchange with amusement. She plucked his joint from his fingers and after taking a drag said, "I think I like your friend, Jonas. You know the most interesting people."

"Get around as much as I do, and that happens," Jonas replied, likewise taking a hit of his joint. "I bet you know all sorts of interesting people as well."

"I'm the most interesting person I know," she said teasingly, fingers sliding up his chest.

"I bet," he said with a hitch in his voice, watching the path of her fingers as she began toying with his vest's buttons.

"Have fun, Jonas," Brian said, turning away for the fire pit.

"You too!" Jonas said distractedly, resuming necking the vampire.

Brian weaved through the crowd, stopping to say a few words to fans and acquaintances, taking his time so he could let the new round of weed hit his system. He eventually made it to the DJ stand when his joint was nearly done, and raised a hand to get Jerry's attention. As soon as Jerry noticed him, he grinned and shouted to be heard over the pounding bass, "Usual?"

Brian nodded, not bothering to try being heard of the music. He made his way up into the pit, which was actually up a small incline in the yard so dancers could be seen, and then set about a foot into the ground for safety purposes. While the current song was finishing up, he set about the final prep work for his flame show, making sure the poi balls were thoroughly soaked in the oil and then letting excess drop off. He was just finishing the last part when the song came to an end.

"Guys and ghouls, taking the attention from the dance floor for the time being," Jerry's voice boomed from the speakers around the yard, as the laser lights cut off, "let's turn your gazes up to the fire pit. Back from his little hiatus, here to blow your minds with his fantastic feats of flaming freestyling, Phoenix!"

Brian turned his grin up to 10 as the crowd broke into whistles and applause. Definitely fuck all the haters, he was top of his game and everyone knew it. The opening strains of Eisenfunk's "Atomic bomb" started to pulse through the speakers and he lit the stilled poi with a thought. The crowd couldn't see the bottom balls, so they thought it was just one of his many tricks. The fire swiftly engulfed the balls. Once they was fully alight, he started slow, matching the pace of the music with some simple swirling, interweaving patterns.

Cheers and clapping continued, and increased when he started swinging faster, making normal optical illusions with the balls such as spirals, butterfly flapping, random words. He noticed a few minutes in that Jonas's mystery vamp had stopped necking with him to watch the show. He gave her another wink as Jerry started mixing the song into the next one, Disturbed's "Into the Fire", swiftly swinging the poi to write out in calligraphy "Salut" and "frumoasa" immediately after. That brought a broad smile to her face.

But it was time to get serious now that his warm up was done. The songs had transitioned and his poi began making jagged cuts through the air, looking like meteors crashing to the sky, and the swinging about in circles like miniature tornados around him. Chorus hit and he swung them around himself to look like the tornados came together and engulfed him. Next refrain the poi were back out and making complex spirals and twirls, then swung over him like an arch as the chorus started up. The poi swung out like whips for the rest of chorus, and then engulfing tornado again for the guitar rifts, but this time his energy flared the fire out further than natural, making a nearly unbroken wall of flames around himself.

Jerry transitioned the song early into the next, Rammstein's "Feuer frei". His poi kept up the tornado for the slower start, then as the music picked up and the lyrics started he was swinging them outward and up and down at full speed, looking like a pair of wings and casting light on his face as he circled around so the audience could see them from all angles. At "Bang bang; bang, bang", the poi came together twice above him and he used his energy to make a phoenix shape flare up from each collision. Then while the audience was mystified with the shapes, back to the pattern of tornado and then whipping down to twist around his legs in spirals. Another round of phoenixes at "bang bang," this time as they unwrapped and collided with his ankles, causing phoenixes to flare up along either side of himself.

Crowd going wild, he let the poi swing for a few seconds during the brief guitar rift in jagged patterns following the strains of the music like a conductor. Brief tornado during the refrain again.

As the song came to its more hypnotic lull just over two minutes in, he let the poi swing up and wrap around his arms. His directed the fire over them, engulfed up to his shoulders, and created a few slow spiraling patterns with his hands and the poi balls in front of him, letting the fire rage along his arms. The crowd was at its loudest, as always at this point. He let the poi swing back down off his arms as the final burst of music picked up, seemingly taking the fire with them and leaving his arms unscathed. A few more swirls, and finishing the song with several bursts of phoenixes in various directions.

Brian let the poi drop, smothering the fire mentally, and took a few bows as Jerry promised the crowd yelling for more that Phoenix would be performing again soon enough. Brian left the canister and poi in the pit, as they had a few other (amateur) fire dancers present who might want a go. He jogged down to his adoring fans and started having drinks and joints with them.

Jonas surprised him by tapping out early, about an hour later, saying he drank too much and needed to stick by the toilet. Brian told him that was too bad, and got the nod that he could have fun with the foreign vamp, whose name was apparently "Anca".

And Anca seemed more than happy to play, being especially curious and flattering in regards to his little show. Brian hadn't ever been with a vampire, though Nic had offered one of his ladies at one point, but he figured one time could be fun to see what all the damn fuss was about and at least this wasn't someone he knew's sloppy seconds. As Anca nipped at his ear and asked to go someplace quieter, he felt a shiver down his spine that was two parts arousal, one part fear at being alone with such a dangerous creature.

Anca clearly noticed and laughed. She said quietly, "I can assure you, my dear phoenix, that I have no intentions of biting you." She gave another nip at his ear, "I'm far more curious to test your stamina. Do you think you can outlast me?"

Brian let his well-earned ego talk as his hands caressed along her back. "I have yet to meet someone who can wear me out. I'll keep you going right up 'til sunrise, Anca."

A dangerously beguiling smirk, fangs just peeking out. "Oh, I do hope so."

That shiver again. But like hell he was going to pass up this fun like a weak-spined bitch. She got too nippy and he could just light her up. Vamps and flames didn't go well together, from what he knew.

After a few seconds thought, Brian figured it'd be tacky to bring her inside and have fun in Jonas' hearing range. Didn't need to rub it in his face that he had to pass up his turn cuz he couldn't hold his liquor. It was a gorgeous night, though, and he doubted a vamp would mind being outside for a romp.

Taking her by the hand, he led her towards the woods, saying, "There's a clearing out this way, with thick grass and flower to be comfy on. Better than being stuck inside where things might break if we get a bit rowdy."

"A man after my unbeating heart," she said with a brief laugh, following along gamely through the mix of oaks and maples surrounding the property.

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a/n: as per requests, Esti beat de apa rece daca crezi ca o sa vorbesc minciuni unei femei frumoase ca tine = You're drunk with cold water (Romanian turn of phrase for someone's crazy/fooling themselves) if you think I'm going to speak lies to a beautiful woman like you. Apologies if I made a mistake, my Romanian, which was only semi-fluent to begin with, is *really* rusty these days and I don't have someone I can immediately ask to proof-read. Figured translation would be better placed here at end of scene/Brian's POV, instead of end of chapter, but we're now moving on because we've got one more scene to go…

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Alucard mentally directed Walter to move the van further up the street as he followed Mercedes' ex-husband into the forest. They were getting close to the first limits of her ward and he didn't want it slowing his reactions down. Alucard had located Brian with his psychic sight and then watched his housemate leave for their pre-party alcohol run. It was an easy matter to intercept Jonas in this guise, a Romanian-British young woman he had stolen the soul of a decade or so ago at an underground club in London. He made initial contact by suggesting a rarer liquor off to the side in the store, and then mesmerizing his pliable, drug-befuddled mind and getting him to invite the vampire to the party as his guest. Walter had done well in tailing them back, keeping a half kilometer behind so as not to be seen, nor overly hinder Alucard while being a passenger in the human's car. Once they had arrived, Walter had found a safe place to park on the side of the road, the start of a small hiking trail.

At that point, Alucard went to work blending in with the rave crowd, carefully keeping his energy suppressed to a normal fledgling vampire level and scanning for his target, and then luring him in. So far, the human had proven exceptionally easy to manipulate and his mental wards were pathetic. The progenitor hadn't been able to get the full details, yet, but he caught some bits and pieces while the human had been inside the house by himself. It wasn't hard to deduce from his thoughts that he must have had something to do with the attack on Mercedes at the beginning of the week. At the gentle direction of vampiric influence, that thought had been expounded on marginally to reveal he was apparently under some sort of assumption that doing so would somehow provide him funds he was in need of. There was a co-conspirator, Nic, who might be a vampire. And the redhead who arranged the attack, which a glimpse with his psychic sight into the basement showed was in fact the person he had seen in the memories of her attackers. It didn't seem he had had direct contact with Iscariot, but knew of their attack this morning and was glad for it.

Scum. Or the filthy bacteria that fed on the scum of his base impulses. They were almost far enough out that he was certain the crowded party wouldn't hear anything over the music. He'd soon get the rest of the story out of this waste of life, and then remove him from further spreading his filth into humanity.

Walter had need of turning on the van and carefully maneuvering it to pull out of the narrow, tree surrounded space he was parked in. During that time, winding his way behind the human, Alucard felt the ward start tingling against his chest, warning he was getting too far away and it was going to start effecting his movements.

Brian halted in his tracks, releasing the vampire's hand and whipping around to stare. Alucard's immediate suspicion that the human sensed the magic within his own energy was confirmed when in a matter of a second and a half, the human's eyes widened as he saw the faint glow of the runes on his chest, then narrowed in what seemed fury and suspicion. His gaze darted up to meet the vampire's, and his chaotic fiery energy began to become noticeable around his form.

"You're not some random vampire!" Brian said sharply, taking a few steps back. Despite his more obvious anger, there was a faint hint of fear in his voice. "I know that fucking magic. You're connected to my bitch ex-wife somehow. What the fuck do you think you're doing here? I haven't had shit to do with her in years and if she wants something from me, I don't appreciate her sending her fucking blood-sucking cronies to deliver the message."

Alucard looked up for a moment and let a puff of air out of his nose in simulation of a sigh, exasperated with not only the obvious statement of association, but the clear lie in regards to keeping his distance from his former wife, and the fact that this goddamn ward was in fact such a goddamn liability to him. The Seer's first order of business when she woke up was getting this removed. To the human, however, he said, "Well now, isn't that interesting… Because your conspirator, Frank, indicated otherwise when he ordered an attempted rape and murder of Mercedes earlier this week."

Brian's fiery energy became tangible as a small ring of fire sprouted up around him. "I don't know what you're talking about, Anca. I don't know any Frank, and I don't know anything about any attack on my ex. You're barking up the wrong tree and if you keep making accusations like that, I'm lighting your ass up and then sending your ashes to Mercedes as a warning about making unfounded accusations. That bitch has been making my life hell since we got married and I'm done with her bullshit guilt trips, always making me out to be the bad guy and source of all her troubles."

"You don't know what I'm talking about?" Alucard asked, feigning a confused expression.

The human shook his head, expression becoming more earnest as he bluffed, "No, I don't. So why don't you get scuttling back to her and tell her to go looking elsewhere for whatever you're going on about."

"Scuttle?" Alucard repeated, tone indignant as he folded his arms in front of himself, arms resting around breasts that would have given Seras a run for her money. "I don't 'scuttle'."

The magic-fueled fire flickered higher around the human for a second, reflecting his agitation. "Whatever. However you want to put it, just get going and pass along the message."

Alucard cocked his head to one side, a fore-lock of dark hair falling across the upturned side of his female mask. "Oh, now I understand your error of judgment… You've mistaken me for a messenger."

"Aren't you?" Brian asked tersely, magical fire flaring higher, now up to his waist, casting fast shifting light and shadows across his face.

"No."

In the blink of an eye, Alucard dissolved into shadows, darted forward like lightning through the circle of fire, and reappeared in his most natural, original form with one gauntleted hand around the human's throat, slamming him into the tree behind him with the brutal force behind his momentum. The human's cervical vertebrae was partially crushed and his fire disappeared with his shock and broken concentration. As he gasped futilely for breath, hands clawing at the vampire's hand, his eyes were widening with fear at the sight of the taller armored vampire looming before him.

"It seems you may recognize me, little gypsy child," Alucard's heavily accented voice was like a dagger. "So as there can be no claim of ignorance, allow me to introduce myself. _Numele meu e Voivode Vlad Draculea,_ _al_ _casă_ _din Dr_ _ă_ _culeşti._ In modern nights, you humans call me Alucard." He leaned in so his face was a mere inch from the human's as he felt the so-called pheonix's throat trying to heal its damage beneath his fingers. His grip tightened, crushing the bones completely this time. As the human made a gargling, half drowning noise, hands stilling and falling away in defeat, Alucard continued speaking. "I am no messenger. I am the King of Vampires and a reaper of blood, answers and souls. It happens to be your misfortune that your former wife falls under the shelter of my protection and I've made the choice to investigate the attack on her myself. Mind your tongue, as you possessing it is not requisite for me to extract answers from you."

He picked up the desperate mental thoughts of, "I understand! Gods that fucking hurts! I understand! Please! Fucking hell! Let go and I'll tell you what you want to know! _Vă rog, rege meu!_ Release me, for fuck's sake, _rege meu_ , _vă rog_!"

Alucard obliged by whipping the human to one side, impaling him through the chest with the low-lying, thick branch of the tree next to the one he had been pinned against. The human let out a strangled scream, his throat injuries swiftly-healing to allow the hoarse noise. Blood flowed from his chest and came out in frothy flecks from his mouth.

"Enough!" Alucard snapped out as he made a small digital camcorder appear from where he had shadowed it after liberating it from one of the party goers about half an hour ago. "I missed any important organs and you'll be able to heal that if I decide to let you down." He flicked the little machine's power button and levitated it to an appropriate angle to capture the human's predicament. A mental touch to make it start recording, then he said to the grunting human who had wrapped his hands around the branch to try taking some of the pressure off his chest, "Now, from the beginning, Brian; and if you lie to me, I will know and punish you further. We have all evening, so how much pain and suffering you earn depends almost entirely on your cooperation. Tell me truthfully, did you or did you not conspire to have your ex-wife, Mercedes, raped and murdered?"

The human turned an icy blue glare to the vampire. He demanded roughly, but understandably, "Why the fuck does it matter to you? How the fuck do you even know her?"

Alucard tutted and stepped forward, saying, "I am the one asking questions." A sharp nail sliced over one bicep and then he ripped down, flaying a long strip of skin off the human. An agonized scream came from the human, his hands letting going of the branch to try punching the vampire. Alucard parried each swing, one hand still holding the human's flesh, slamming his hands into the branch and likewise impaling them through the palms so it looked like he was clutching his wounded chest. More screams of pain from the human.

Alucard waited half a minute or so for the loudest noises to subside, looking over the eight inches of skin he had peeled. He glanced to the human and saw his wounds in his stomach and hands were trying to heal, but halted around the length of the branch. "Now, Brian, again. Did you or did you not conspire to have your ex-wife, Mercedes, raped and murdered?"

"Y-yes… you bastard," Brian shakily but defiantly barked out, blood beginning to make a tiny trail from the corner of his mouth. "Yes!"

Alucard nodded and paced to the other side of the human. "Now we're getting somewhere… Why?"

"Cuz she's a fucking bitch!" Brian yelled.

"That's not a proper answer." Another strip of skin removed from his other arm. Over the yells from the human, he asked with a hint of fury, "Why did you hire men to attack Mercedes?"

"Because I needed the money! Happy?!" The human asked furiously, pulling his topmost hand free with a sickening squelch.

Alucard slammed the hand back in place, causing yet more screams. "I did not give you permission to remove your hand. And no, your answer does not make me happy. You two are divorced, so how did you think her death would profit you?"

The human's teeth gritted together and he grunted heavily, trying to hold back further screams. Breathing heavily, he finally managed to say, "Our son. She dies, law says I get our son."

"And?" Alucard asked stoically. He had a few guesses where that line of thought would go, but wanted the human to say it. "How does that gain you? She has very little personal funds to transfer forward to a caretaker, and a life insurance policy payout would be placed in a trust until he came of age."

"No shit," Brian coughed out. "But her family… They hate me." His head lolled to one side weakly and he gave a pained groan, shock starting to take over and numb the pain. "Parental rights come before distant family in custody cases."

"So you'd hold your son as a legal hostage until they gave you a payoff?"

"Yes," Brian said, shifting his head to glare at the vampire again. "He's my offspring. They want me to give up claim, they can make it worth my while."

Alucard ripped another strip of skin off his bicep, noting the previous strip of exposed skin was about half healed.

"Fuck! I told the truth! What the fuck?!"

"That is for being a reprehensible excuse for a father," Alucard said unapologetically.

"Fuck off! You have no idea what I deal with!"

"Drugs, drinking, job hopping, angry mob boss, party expenses to pay, wanting to set up your own operations… Yes, I have some concept." Switching tracks, he asked, tone becoming vaguely conversational, "So, you hatched this plan to murder your ex-wife in the most disgusting manner your base mind could conceive, and hoped to profit off of a custody fight. But you didn't hatch this idea on your own, did you?"

"No," Brian said bitterly, spitting a mouthful of blood out to one side and sanguine drool dripped from what didn't break off cleanly. "Nic helped me come up with the plan."

"Who is 'Nic'?" Alucard asked, tone hinting at impatience as he paced back to the starting side, clearly silently threatening to rip a strip off next to the first, mostly-healed wound. It was interesting to note the difference in skin; as it was clear that the area that was regenerating would smoothly integrate with the old skin, but it was lacking the tattoos the rest of his arm had.

"A guy, a vamp, I know," Brian said, head falling back against the tree as he let his supernatural healing do its work as best as it could on his arms and impalement wounds. "He hangs out at a club in Boston. Sometimes comes to the house parties. Don't know his last name. Has a couple of girlfriends. Farah and Delilah."

"And why would this 'Nic' feel any impetus to help you murder your ex-wife and receive a financial windfall?"

"Nic knows Merce' from the Philly scene cuz he's sometimes down there. Thinks she's an uptight bitch too."

Alucard slowly ripped a strip of skin off, from shoulder to wrist, causing more damage to the underlying muscles that tried to resist being separated than if he had pulled quickly. It also gave time for some blood to drench the skin from ruptured vessels. He lifted the strip over his head with a shadowy tendril, letting the blood fall onto supernaturally long and outstretched tongue. He licked stray droplets from his lips as the human gagged on vomit, finally hitting a mental limit for gore that was caused from his own body, and then turned his face away and spew his filth to one side. Alucard took his time laying that strip onto the other three he had gathered, trying not to wrinkle his nose in disgust at the thick splattering sounds and rank, acidic smells tainting the air. He was used to all the reactions of torture, but it didn't make them less repulsive to his heightened senses.

When the human was done retching, the Vampire King said, tone that of a patient but stern tutor, "You may be divorced from Mercedes, but she was still once your wife and is still the mother of your son. She endured much abuse while married to you and raises the child by her own means, quite deftly in fact. Show the woman the respect she deserves, or I'll flay you neck to toe like your skin was a body suit, and lap up the blood as it squirts from your exposed, damaged muscles until it heals back over. Then we can repeat as necessary until you learn your lesson. We could very well end up with a month or more worth of Brian-skinsuits. Do you understand?"

" _Da, rege meu,_ " Brian said, clearly trying to win a reprieve by speaking their shared language in an attempt to show common ground and being servile to fake conceding his defeat. He was pitifully transparent. " _Îmi pare rău_."

"I don't believe you're truly sorry… Not yet," Alucard said, tone and expression contemplative. "We shall see. You may be starting to realize the position you're in. What has this 'Nic' told you of his interactions with Mercedes? Why does he have a negative opinion of her?"

"He hasn't said much," Brian said. "Please, _rege meu_ , can I let my hands free? I'll tell you what he said, just let me have my hands free."

Alucard let another puff of air through his nose and shook his head in exasperation, but said, "Very well, relieve some of the pressure in your chest. Try anything, however, and you lose them completely."

"Mulţumesc mult, rege meu," Brian said in clear relief. Grimacing, he pulled his hands free, ripping open freshly healed skin as he did so. He breathed heavily as there was fresh pain, teeth gritting, as the wounds slowed closed up. When he could finally make use of his hands again, he grabbed the branch and again levelled some of pressure onto his arms.

"Better?" Alucard asked, tone blasé.

"Da, much better," Brian said grudgingly.

"Now, as to my question?"

Brian let his head rest against the tree trunk again. "Nic said Merce' was getting too close to some Elder. Liam, I think. She was making him break all sorts of rules and upsetting the hierarchy. He didn't like it. He wanted her gone too…" He broke off with a grunt of pain, a tendon in his left hand growing back and snapping into place quite forcefully and audibly. "Fuck…"

"So this Nic is a servant of some kind to Liam?"

"I guess," Brian said. "I don't know. It's not smart to go questioning too much with you vamps. Maybe he was with another Elder and they're threatened by the shakeup she's causing. But he didn't like it either way. He gave me the number of a guy he knew, Frank. Said if I put myself in the line of fire if it got tracked, I could get rid of both of our problems and then cash in so it wasn't for nothing."

Alucard raised an eyebrow. "Did you really think you'd get away with this plan?"

"Didn't see why not. Courts would be on my side for custody."

"Except, as you apparently have some awareness of, she's connected to vampires," Alucard pointed out bluntly. "Do you think they give so much as a thought to legalities? The Elders she's connected to, and there's more than one, would kill you the moment you attempted to hold her son hostage, thereby eliminating the problem you pose."

Brian glared at the progenitor of vampires. "I can handle a few normal vamps."

"Clearly not, as the threat of them kept you away until desperate enough to do something supremely stupid," Alucard said, sarcastic notes now laced in his voice.

"Fine, whatever, maybe I didn't think that far out," Brian conceded with irritation. "What do you want me to say? I was under pressure, it seemed like a good solution, so I went for it."

Alucard closed his eyes a moment to avoid rolling them. Lowlifes… They never changed… What in the name of all that was unholy did the seer ever find appealing about this stain on humanity? Shaking his head, he opened his eyes to narrow slits, agitation evident. "Did you ever tell this Nic anything about Mercedes or your son's powers?"

Brian didn't answer immediately, thinking back on his interactions. Finally, he shook his head. "No. Nic never asked…" His expression changed as he remembered something. "Actually, I did tell him about her fucking hound. He asked why I hadn't tried to press things during our divorce or after. Told him she had some other vamps who were friends of hers, they didn't like me teaching her a lesson about threatening to walk from our marriage. Between them and that big fucker she had sicced on me, I figured I should keep some distance til she cooled her shit a little."

Alucard hummed a little with a nod. "So that's what happened? Your wife threatened to leave you for some reason, so you burnt up her legs to keep her from doing so?"

Brian nodded, then looked down at his chest, then back at the vampire. "Come on, _rege meu_. You, of all people, should be able to understand that. I heard about what you did to the mistress who lied to you about being pregnant. It was appropriate to remind her of her vows as my wife. I didn't even kill her or hurt our son."

Alucard nodded absently. "Yes, you'd likely be considered justified by most to think I of all people would appreciate the poetry of the punishment…" His gaze zeroed back on the human's; who seemed marginally relieved by the concession, but stiffened as he saw the hellfire raging in the vampire's eyes. "Except history often likes to misconstrue the truth of events," the progenitor said with pure malice dripping in his tone, demonic filled shadows starting to form around him. "The woman you speak of was neither my mistress, nor possibly pregnant with my child. She was an avarice whore masquerading as a lady who was unfortunately married to one of my dearest friends. He was away on an errand I sent him on, I had been drinking and fell asleep after having too much. I found myself the next morning lying in a bed with her, and she made claims I had taken her, had forced it in place of her absent husband. I couldn't remember the truth of matters, I hadn't ever had any stirrings for her, but I couldn't think at that bleary moment why else I'd be in bed with her. Then a few months later, after she extorted some small sum of wealth for her silence to protect _sotia mea_ from finding out, she tried to claim she carried my unborn child and wanted me to set my beloved aside for her. A midwife confirmed what I suspected by that point, there was no child. I had never been with her. So I killed her and her conspiring handmaids to set an example about what immoral _tr_ _ă_ _d_ _ă_ _tori_ could expect."

Having set that record straight, Alucard made a long cut just over the human's left pectoral muscle, about three inches long, and then ripped straight down, to his leather clad waist. This strip of flesh included not only tattooed designs, but the uneven and different colored section of nipple, complete with piercing.

As the human screamed in agony from the newest and worst flaying, Alucard said with continued unbridled malevolence, "Don't you ever compare yourself to me, you waste of divine spark that gives you your filthy existence! I valued my family above all else in creation and would have moved heaven and earth for my wife and son's sakes! I would never have caused them harm or abandoned them! You are a disgrace even to your gypsy blood! A true _Roma_ at least likewise values their family above all!"

The human cringed away from the raging vampire and a blast of fire shot up between them. Alucard reared back in time, having sensed the elemental energy build and release at the last moment, flaring his own dark energy out to push away the fire and protect himself. He reached through the fire, energy commanding the unnatural fire to not touch him. He grabbed hold of the human's upper arm, Brian trying desperately to make his flames reach the vampire and set him on fire.

Alucard let out a growl as his grip tightened, his energy pushing back just as fiercely to continue protecting himself. "I'm the King of Vampires, and you're nothing more than a pathetic human with a little gift that has over-inflated his ego. It would take more than a pile of dogshit like you to hurt me." And with that, he wrenched with near his full strength, ripping the human's arm off at the shoulder joint, like popping a tender wing off a roasted chicken.

The human's eyes bulged out, almost impossibly wide, as a gut-wrenching, disbelieving, horrified scream tore its way from his throat and his fire disappeared. Alucard refrained from drinking up any more of the human's heavily-spurting blood, letting it spray across the tree's other branches and the ground. His blood was too heavily laced with alcohol, drugs, and what might have been a contracted disease from his promiscuous lifestyle. It was disgusting and he wanted no further part of it than necessary.

While the human screamed himself almost hoarse from the loss of his arm, and the scent of human excrement wafted up to assault his nostrils, Alucard set about flaying more wide strips of skin from him. First from the severed arm, which he discarded beneath the human, and then from his chest and remaining arm. He worked his way methodically, slowly, going from one side to the other. Once the front of the human had been flayed, Alucard levitated him free of the tree branch, flipped him around, and slammed him face first into the tree. Renewed moans and cries of pain like music to his ears, he started the process of flaying the human's back in strips. He repeated the process for another full set of strips, though the severed arm appeared to not regenerate once separated from the so-called phoenix. Mortal healing, even when supernaturally enhanced, really was limited in some respects. But at least his swift healing of those body parts still attached allowed for extra harvesting.

Once he had deemed he had enough strips of skin, over half an hour later (the camera had run out of recording space well before then), Alucard once more flipped the human around to face him. "You said it was a great big hound she sicced on you all those years ago, da? Did she happened to call it Cerberus?"  
Brian looked up at the vampire with exhausted, pain-glazed eyes. "Wha? Th… The hound? Yeah… Cerb..brus. Why?"

Alucard nodded thoughtfully to himself; the seer had mentioned Cerberus was the first of her hounds. He reached out telepathically, searching the void dimension until he located with the aid of his own hounds the Seer's longest-serving familiar. Once he transmitted the situation in rough thoughts to Cerberus, he sensed the hound's eager agreement and pulled it into existence without resistance.

The human's eyes got wide with recognition, but he was too spent at the moment from healing himself to try conjuring up his fires. "N-no! S-s-send it away! Send it the fuck away!" He got more animated as adrenaline and frightened desperation coursed through him, "I told you every mother fucking thing you asked me to tell you! Send it away!"

"You told me everything, yes. I didn't ever say that you would live, however. I only said your cooperation would determine just how much pain you were forced to endure. I'm ending this little session of ours early because you have been mostly obliging." As the human screamed increasingly vulgar curses and pleas, he said to the hound, "I think it's long past due that you finished your defense of your mistress and had your revenge. Just be sure to finish him off completely and his soul is brought to me so I might sift for any information I may have missed."

The massive hell hound nodded and gave a feral grin with his hundreds of teeth exposed. The human's pleas became an inarticulate, terrified scream as the demonic familiar closed in on him.

Alucard straightened his flowing hair out a bit, wiped a smear of blood from his bracer. That done, he turned away and headed towards where the original destination of the clearing was, to carry out the final task he had set for himself for the evening. As strangled screams and the sound of rending flesh erupted from behind him, Alucard thought with grim satisfaction that if he was quick about it, they'd be able to reach the Seer's mountain home by dawn and his servants could finally get some much needed proper rest.

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A/N: Thank you DarkMessiah and UM Grapevine for the kind words, and to the couple people who PMed me to make sure I was okay. I'm surviving, just trying to get past the suck that was the last few months. Gatchiri, duly noted, thank you for the spelling mistake being pointed out. I know very little German, so I appreciate the corrections. Let me know what you think of this chapter, folks. It was the longest I've written for this story, and was one of the most graphic (and difficult). Feedback would be much appreciated.


	36. Chapter35 Those Bloody American Vampires

Chapter Thirty-Five

Those Bloody American Vampires

Once Alucard was done setting up the plagiarized "scene of the crime", he met back up with his servants.

Upon reentering the van, Val asked him with a yawn, "How'd it go? Get anything out of him?"

Alucard deposited a small, bloodstained parcel into a cooler and then held up the camera. "Yes." His gaze turned to Walter. "Let's leave. You and Seras are going to need rest come sun up."

Walter nodded and silently began maneuvering the van back to the small road that would eventually bring them to the highway.

"Well?" Val asked impatiently as they bumped over rocks and then onto the cracked pavement. "What'd you find out?"

"He arranged the attack earlier this week with the help of a vampire to kill Mercedes and subsequently hold his son hostage to her family so that he could pay off his debts to his drug supplier," Alucard said briefly. His brooding gaze went to Mercedes, thinking on other aspects of the situation he had learned.

"Son of a fucking whore," Val burst out, punching the dashboard in front of her. She winced and shook her hand, saying, "I hope you found this out through gratuitous violence?"

"Indeed."

"Did you discover the vampire's identity?" Seras asked, tone even as she stroked the ebony hair of the child resting quietly with his head in her lap. Sleepy child wanting to stretch out during their long road trip had apparently trumped his annoyance with her about half an hour before arriving to this residence. Thankfully. They certainly didn't need the mildly psychic child to get a hint of what had taken place.

"He only knew the vampire by his first name, Nic," Alucard said. His gaze went to the furious human. "Know anyone connected to the Elders by that name?"

Val thought on it a few seconds, then shook her head. "Not ringing any bells. Why?"

"Apparently this vampire knew a fair bit about Mercedes and her relationship with Liam," Alucard said, voice a bit icy now, "and stood to lose a fair bit from it. Want to explain to me why a lower ranking vampire felt threatened enough to plot with the maggot to have her killed and risk his elders' wrath, despite that Mercedes is supposedly not a companion of Liam's?"

Valarie's gaze darted away from the progenitor and she gave a nervous swallow as her gaze went down. She said ambivalently, "Relationship with Liam? Dunno what you mean there, Your Royal Fangness. As I'm she sure told you, they're only friends and that shouldn't have made anyone low ranking nervous."

Alucard's eyes narrowed. She was a pitiful liar. He closed his eyes, reining in his anger. Now wasn't the time to interrogate the human on it. Not with the close quarters of the vehicle and the child present. But he would get answers before dawn.

Something was off about this whole situation, and that was becoming more clear with every passing hour. Mercedes seemed pretty clear about her relationship with Liam, but clearly the Elder had some strong attachment to her and the child. The child had a strong attachment to Liam, similar to what a child would have to a father figure he saw as a beacon of protection and security. And the Elder's closest circle was viewed as aunts and uncles to the child, and they returned that sentiment. Enough so that the whole lot of them were making his life increasingly more complicated.

No, the seer had misled him somehow. He wasn't sure exactly how yet, but he had a few theories.

An uneasy silence fell in the van, broken only by the sound of the wind against the van, the vehicle bumping on the poorly kept road, and quiet clanks of medical equipment and the slosh of the IV bag resulting from the travel.

With his decision to wait until they had safely arrived at their mountain retreat, Alucard's mind turned to their next possible steps. Something that had likewise been further complicated as the day had passed.

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Seras received a worried call from Pip a few hours into the trip, as they were stopped to buy lunch for the humans in New York. He had been called into Hellsing manor by a furious Integra, and interrogated on what he might know of his girlfriend's current activities because the knight had seen the news reports of mass destruction in the states not long after Seras and Walter had arrived. It was through Integra that Pip had learned, and passed on to them, that Alucard's plane, along with another, had been blown up at Philadelphia International.

Alucard had highly doubted they'd be able to use it as a means of escape, was resigned to having to leaving it there for a time before he could reclaim it. However, losing it utterly in a blaze had thoroughly infuriated him to discover.

While Pip was speaking with Seras to assure himself of her wellbeing, he had been called back into Integra's office.

Alucard was the next to receive a call, half an hour later when they were back on the road, from Integra herself. That call had proved even more infuriating.

"Good evening, Sir Integra…"

The progenitor's sarcastic greeting was interrupted before he could finish saying her full name. "Alucard! Just what sort of war do you think you're starting with the American freaks and Iscariot and why is it being brought to MY COUNTRY?!"

Alucard had blinked once in confusion, and then snapped back, "What do you mean by it has been brought to your country?"

"Pip's flat, your mansion, and several other locations were leveled in unexplained explosions within the last hour! What have you done now?!"

"Wait, what happened at Pip's flat?!" Seras asked, immediately upset.

Alucard let out a furious snarl, partially at the situation, partially at his quick-reacting fledgling. "Be quiet, Seras. And Integra, what other locations were hit?"

"I asked you questions first, vampire," Integra demanded, unmoved by his outburst. "What are you doing that's causing international backlash?! How much further should I be expecting this to go?"

Alucard's teeth clacked together, biting back his immediate short-tempered response. After a few seconds of regaining his self-control, he said brusquely, "I didn't realize I still reported to you Integra. Has our arrangements changed?"

"Alucard!" Integra yelled, and he could almost imagine a cigar being crushed in her fist. "You may no longer be with the Hellsing Organization…"

"'With the Hellsing Organization'," Alucard had interrupted sharply. "I see you're falling back on that old polite way of referencing your family enslaving me. Was that your novel idea, or the Round Table's?"

"Alucard, I am not playing word games with you right now!" Integra snapped back. "A large part of the downtown of Philadelphia was damaged, there are reports pouring in of damage to the Archdiocese and several score civilian casualties. It appears the American vampires are running damage control and their own PR work to hide the supernatural connections, but now we have residences blowing up here in England. Residences tied to vampires and Hellsing operatives. And you are in the midst of it all. Clearly you've managed to anger people of influence on one side or the other with your activities. As I aided your ability to travel there under false identities and sped up your servants' access to travel to the United States, I am now involved and will be questioned on what took place." Integra's angry voice then held a tone of warning, that could almost be construed as concern for the vampire, "If you don't wish to find yourself losing all English hospitality, you had better give me some sort of information to present to the Round Table, as I am meeting with them in two hours and they are expecting a report on the situation."

Alucard had let out a frustrated huff, blowing his shaggy bangs out of his eyes. They fell back and he closed his eyes, contemplating the situation. "Integra, believe it or not, this conflict in Philadelphia was going to happen, with or without my interference. As it happens, despite the damage we caused, we ultimately saved innocent lives. I'm not sure which faction destroyed the British locations; if it was Iscariot or the Americans through connections of theirs. I'd be inclined to think Iscariot with how quickly it was executed. I am attempting to gather the full details of this situation, as it is deeper reaching than first expected."

"What do you mean it is deeper reaching than expected? You went there to intercede with a potential Iscariot sweep-and-clean and assess the stability of the current vampiric situation rooted in the city, and somehow managed to turn this into an international incident costing tens, if not hundreds, of millions in damage. This is messy, even for you."

Alucard bit back a snarl with her chastising tone. He ground out, "I am well aware of how messy this was, Integra. Thank you for your keen insight. Iscariot was up to more than a sweep-and-clean, though what precisely the rest was I didn't have time nor ability to discover. There's also been complications left and right with the American vampires and other parties involved."

"What other parties?" Integra asked, tone now a shade confused.

"Parties of the human variety that needed to be protected from this incident," Alucard said briefly. He could hear Integra suck in a breath in surprise. He pressed his point, "And despite the human casualties that were operatives of Iscariot, we kept most of the innocent humans alive. I am still working on getting all the information, as these things are never plainly laid out. But I can assure you that I've stumbled onto something larger and more multifaceted than anticipated. I will keep you informed of the situation once we are at a safe location and I've a more complete idea of where the situation currently stands. Say what you need to say to placate the Round Table, and I will do what I need to here."

Integra had let out a heavy sigh. He heard a lighter flick and then a puff of her cigar. "Very well. I assume that, with your plane being destroyed, you'll be wanting me to arrange some sort of extraction for you and your servants in the near future?"

"We can discuss that once the situation is closer to resolved," Alucard said, knowing Integra was going to be less accommodating about smuggling the Americans out of the country and it was best to give time for the seeds he had planted about protecting innocents to take root in her thoughts.

Another puff of smoke, a heavy sigh. "You better have a damn riveting account of what happened to justify the trouble this is causing."

"Don't I always?" Alucard asked, tone now smooth and a hint prideful.

Snort of suppressed laughter. She muttered, "Damned nosferatu…" More sternly, she said, "I'll hold off the Round Table inquiry for the time being, but I will need a report in the very near future or they will cut off all assistance previously given in exchange for your services."

"I'll keep that in mind," Alucard said. "Enjoy your meeting, Integra."

She hung up on him, likely to avoid breaking her composure and saying something undignified. She was getting testy in her middle age.

Seras was fretting over her and Pip's destroyed residence, bemoaning items lost and worrying what could have happened had Pip been within. To divert her attention, Alucard had her start tracking news reports on her phone to avoid being the last to know of any further developments. It was a productive diversion from Seras' meltdown, and allowed him to keep his fraying temper and sanity she was wearing on.

There were many reports streaming in of the various locations that had been damaged and people injured, dead or missing. The vampire, Davin, was listed as among the dead; the lawyer presumably buried in the high rise that had been demolished while he was present for an early morning business meeting. Mercedes and her son were among those listed as missing in the various "terrorist" attacks, presumably kidnapped, with her next door neighbor reported as murdered.

Midafternoon, Seras found a news report that Philadelphia's preeminent billionaire, Liam Sëaghdha, who owned in the demolished building and had stocks in the damaged bank building, was going to be giving a joint press release statement alongside the mayor and a federal agent.

"Ever the Ventrue with the cover-ups and human manipulating," Val commented offhand.

At the appointed time, Alucard put the child to sleep for a nap so as to avoid upsetting him with seeing the vampire he was so attached to and whatever that vampire might say. Seras switched over to a news station's YouTube livestream channel so they could hear the press conference.

The conference hadn't started yet when Seras brought up the livestream. However, Liam, the vampire Henrick (husband of the slain Janna), and a female vampire could be seen dressed in mourning black and glasses-clad. There was a small horde of private security, police officers, and federal agents surrounding them. There was also two elderly individuals, a middle aged man, and two middle aged women; all of whom were dressed in somber yet stately outfits and seemed to be waiting to give statements and under protection. The elderly woman was silently crying, the elderly man had an arm interlocked with hers and was quietly speaking with her, words unheard over the noise of the crowd between them and the cameraman. One of the middle aged women was also speaking with the elderly couple, as the other two middle aged humans glanced between them and then the crowd, expressions strained to remain neutral.

Upon Seras notating that, Alucard told her to show the human to see if Val recognized any of the individuals as local authorities or politicians.

Val accepted the phone, then her jaw dropped after barely two seconds. "Oh… fuck… What the fuck are they doing there?!"

"Who?" Alucard asked, eyes narrowing.

"Mercedes' grandparents!" Val exclaimed. "That's the Marquis and his wife!"

A tendril of shadow snatched the phone from the human and brought the phone to the Vampire King. Eyes narrowed, he looked from the screen to Valarie. "You are certain that is them?"

Valarie nodded once.

"How did they get there so quickly?" Seras asked, clearly racking her brain for answers.

"They must have pulled strings and flown in!" Val said, sounding only half sure. "Fuck. Liam mentioned he had talked to them earlier, trying to prevent Mercedes' grandmother from having another heart attack. They must not have been content to wait for word of where she had disappeared off to. It's barely an hour travel by plane."

"Liam is in contact with the Marquis and his wife?" Alucard asked sharply.

Val nodded and said with concern, "Mercedes' grandmother has Alzheimer's and ever since Mercedes' mom died, she gets very worried whenever she can't contact Mercedes on a whim. Seen as where she's met me and Liam a handful of times, she has our numbers to contact us so we can let her know all is well and make sure she doesn't get herself worked up before Mercedes can call her back. Liam told me this morning that he had been on the phone with them right before I called to find out what the hell was happening in Philly." Val groaned with worry and frustration, punching the back of her seat. "Fuck, she's gotta be close to the edge right now… She can't handle much more upsets."

Alucard considered that information against what he already knew. He supposed he shouldn't be surprised, as Liam had aided them against paparazzi intrusions when their daughter had committed suicide. He had even considered earlier this week that should Iscariot botch a murder attempt and leave evidence behind, the Elders might somehow utilize a familiarity with the nobles to launch an indirect counter campaign against Iscariot.

The scrolling banner at the bottom of the screen confirmed that the elderly couple were the grandparents of two of the missing. The female vampire was identified as legal counsel for Liam and Henrick; the latter was apparently masquerading as a well-connected Silicon Valley technology investor and inventor who had reportedly been late to the meeting Davin was presiding over because he and his investment partner (Liam) had fortunately slept in at Liam's penthouse after a night partying together. Convenient alibies, Alucard had thought. There was no mention of the death of one of Henrick's wives.

The middle aged man was identified, by the reporter now quietly informing the audience of current circumstances, as the mayor of Philadelphia. The woman next to him was the federal agent leading the investigation. The female that had been talking to the nobles was another agent.

While he watched, Alucard noticed the Marquis glance away from the agent speaking with them, looking towards the trio of vampires. There was a very strange look on his face that Alucard would have to place as dislike mixed, oddly enough, with grudging respect or gratitude, and perhaps a sliver of fear. While Mercedes' grandmother was apparently fond of her granddaughter's influential friend, her grandfather apparently had very mixed feelings about the association. Whether the fear was of the vampire himself, or a more general fear for the situation his granddaughter had found herself in, wasn't clear.

There was only a few minutes to wait and contemplate the implications of what he was seeing, listening as the reporter expounded on what the banner had said by identifying the nobles by name and specific relation to the missing, before the press conference started.

The press pool quieted their conversations as the mayor stepped forward. The man gave a small cough, clearing his throat, and then glanced down at a paper in hand. A heavy sigh, he set the paper on the podium before him and glanced around the crowd.

"It is with a heavy heart that we gather together after the attacks that took place in the early hours of this morning," the mayor said somberly. "We are all struggling to make sense of this tragedy that has rocked our city to its core, even as our brave first responders continue their tireless work to extricate possible survivors from the scenes of the attacks and reunite loved ones with those survivors who have been brought to the hospitals for care.

"I want to thank each and every one of you who have so selflessly rallied to help one another through this crisis, epitomizing the spirit of Brotherly Love our city was founded on. From our police, fireman, and medics who are risking the fires and debris of the fallen buildings to rescue those they can, to the doctors working to save lives in emergency rooms across the city, to all our citizens who have been clearing the way for emergency personnel to get where they are needed, or have reached out to those uninjured but were in need of shelter, a way to call loved ones and reassure them of their safety, food and comfort.

"You all have shown that, no matter the adversity, our city is, as it always has been, a pillar of American values such as perseverance, compassion, selflessness, and dedication to community. Even though the smoke of destruction has yet to clear, even as we wait to find out the full extent of our losses, I find myself feeling proud of the citizens of our great city for how you have reacted to this crisis, and praying that we may yet bring more safely out of the destruction and to their families…"

The mayor cleared his throat again, looking down at his paper with another sigh. He gulped, cleared his throat yet again, then continued. "With that said, this has been a tragedy that we need to see addressed. We need answers. The families of those who were lost deserve answers. And those that were responsible need to be brought to justice. This is not the first time our great city has seen tragedy, and while it is one of the worst incidents in recent memory, we need to do everything in our power to make sure this never happens again. So it is to this end that I turn the microphone over to Special Agent Panagakos, who is leading the investigation into this morning's events."

The mayor stepped back and allowed the agent, an Amazonian-built woman of obvious Greek heritage, take his place. She adjusted the mic for her taller stature, expression grim. That settled, she placed her own paper on the podium.

"Afternoon," She said briskly. "As said, I am Special Agent Panagakos, and I am representing a team of federal and local officials who are working together to try piecing together what took place today. While our investigation will take a great deal longer than a day to come to conclusive answers and results, we have been able to piece together a general timeline of events.

"At approximately 5:00 a.m. this morning, Saturday the twenty-ninth, four unregistered helicopters took off from a field just north of Northeast Philadelphia Airport, heading west to an unknown location and ignoring attempts from the Airport to retrieve their certifications and destination. At approximately 5:20 a.m., the first of the attacks began. The target was the Cathedral Basilica owned by Philadelphia's Archdiocese, as well as a car port located next to it. The unknown assailants used a currently unidentified missile launcher to cause damage to both and force their way inside. A fight ensued between the assailants and members of what appears to be a rogue military outfit that had taken over the Archdiocese. The intentions of either group are unknown at this moment; whether the assailants were attempting to liberate the civilians inside, or if the rogue outfit was attempting to protect the civilians.

"What is certain is that the helicopters changed course and engaged in the attack, causing greater destruction before being felled by means currently being investigated. Members of the groups left the initial site of destruction at approximately 5:30a.m.. At about that time, explosives were detonated within Fleetwing Corporation's building, causing it to collapse. From there, intelligence becomes less clear, but we know that members of these groups engaged in further terrorist activity, causing destruction to targeted private residences around the city, killing or abducting residents, from approximately 5:40 a.m. to 6:50a.m.…"

The woman coughed slightly and gestured to the other agent, who produced a bottled water from her coat pocket. As the agent was accepting the bottle, Mercedes' grandmother was beginning to sob at the mention of abducted residents. Her husband attempted to quiet her, whispering to her and wrapping his free arm around her. After taking a small sip of the water, Agent Panagakos gave a faintly pitying look in their direction, then sighed and continued speaking.

"Those are the facts that we have gathered, based on preliminary evidence. Beyond that timeline of events, we have gathered, in part thanks to witness cooperation, and no small effort of inter-agency cooperation, a better idea of the identity of one of the groups involved, as well as the identities of the ringleaders of the second group…"

To that, the Seras' head, which had been drooping with eyes closed out of sheer exhaustion as the young vampire tried to concentrate on the conference, shot up and she glanced at her master in consternation.

His attention remained on the conference, but he held up a hand to silence anything she might say at this moment.

The agent's voice took on a hint of threat as she said, "… Through evidence collected, we have discovered that one of the groups, which one in this engagement remains to be pinpointed, is highly likely to be an underground, fanatical organization of Catholic inspiration that calls itself Iscariot…"

Seras' jaw dropped as Iscariot was exposed on live broadcasts, broadcasts that would be seen nationwide, if not internationally. Walter, who had been driving silently and without sign of reaction to anything previously said, trying to get them safely to their destination, blinked rapidly in consternation and, after a quick glance around, brought them over to the side of the fairly quiet Connecticut interstate they were on.

Valarie was whipping around in her seat, stuttering, "D-d-did they, did they just say..."

"Yes, shh," Walter said quickly, likewise turning in his seat once they stopped.

Alucard was watching with deadly focus, taking in the determined, clearly angry, expression on the agent's face; the hard yet calculating looks on the vampires', the horrified look on the Mayor's (he was Catholic, if Alucard had to guess), and the devastated looks on the nobles'.

"… These extremist insurgents may be linked to past unclaimed terrorist acts. What is known, however, is that they have been making threats to certain individuals within this city and those connected to interests within this city, that they deemed 'sinful', 'agents of the devil', and 'propagating sin in others'. Mr. Liam Sëaghdha- owner and CEO of Fleetwing Corporation, Eagle Eye Industries, Soaring Heights Productions, and Pharaonic Pharmaceuticals- has provided evidence of harassment and threats spanning the last several months from these insurgents, which has been matched to evidence in reports he has made and was under investigation. We can conclude that Mr. Sëaghdha was targeted because aspects of his personal life and some of his business ventures raised the ire of these insurgents.

"One of these business ventures was a joint venture with Doctor Henrick Kingston, owner and CEO of Kingston Corporation. Doctor Kingston in recent months also received threatening missives for his work and investments in cybernetics and genome mapping, which the insurgents apparently deemed heretical.

"We know further that these two, Mr. Sëaghdha and Doctor Kingston, were to have a breakfast meeting with other interested parties in regards to their newest potential research investment. We believe that this gathering of individuals targeted by the Iscariot Organization may have proven too tempting a target and may have contributed to the decision to attack as they did.

"As stated, we are not certain which of the groups involved with Archdiocese attack was this Iscariot Organization, but it appears they may have either taken over or attacked the building for spiritual differences with the core Catholic church. We are awaiting further investigation to determine those specifics. We have, however, drawn connections to this organization and other residents and businesses within the city that were attacked. The full list of victims will not be released at this time out of respect for their families, many of whom have not been reached as of yet.

"As for the second group, we are not certain of the group's identity, nor their motivations for becoming involved in this engagement. However, we have managed to identify the three we suspect to be the ringleaders from evidence gathered from travel records and video surveillance that place them in the area at the time of the first attacks. These three are UK citizens Victor Bennet, Marcus Parish, and Alice Rain…"

Seras whimpered slightly as their current aliases were said, fingers wringing in her lap. Alucard could almost imagine the meltdown Integra was sure to have if/when she watched this, but otherwise kept his focus split between the conference and analyzing what it meant for their plans.

"We will be working with INTERPOL and our United Kingdom counterparts to gather further information on these individuals, and we will be releasing photographs and pertinent information later this afternoon to aid in locating these individuals for questioning. We unfortunately do not have more information beyond that at this time because British authorities are dealing with their own attacks this afternoon; ones that may or may not be related to the ones that took place this morning here in Philadelphia.

"It bears stating that if anyone has any information on these attacks and those involved, we encourage you to immediately call the hotlines that news stations and press releases will be given. If you have information at this moment, you may call FBI headquarters. If you have reason to believe individuals of either group are in your immediate vicinity, please dial 911 for immediate response. We ask though, that you remember the majority of city police are working to aid the immediate situation in Center City and reinforcements from nearby agencies are working to track these people down. Please do not make rash calls, we need you to keep a level head and be certain there is something to report so our officers are not sent on wild goose chases. It also bears warning that if you come into contact with either party, do not approach them under any circumstances and call for authorities from a safe place. Both are considered armed and extremely dangerous.

"This is especially important to note because two of the victims in today's secondary attacks are presumed alive but abducted as they were not found at the scene of the attack, and one is known to be injured from evidence at the scene. We are not certain which group has taken them, but we would like to see them brought home safely, and we do not want rash actions to jeopardize that possibility. Those two are Ms. Mercedes Dreux-Brézé, age 24 years, and her son Alexander Dreux-Brézé, age 5 years. We have reason to believe that Ms. Dreux-Brézé and her son may have been targeted by the insurgents because of her open Interfaith Ministry work and association with Pagan organizations, and for being a known friend of Mr. Sëaghdha, but may be being kept alive as a hostage because of her family's longstanding relationship with the Catholic church. Or if the second group is holding them, we theorize they may have similar ransom intentions, for their own reasons and advantages.

"We will be establishing a separate hotline for information regarding Ms. Dreux-Brézé and Alexander's whereabouts, or for their captors to contact us to negotiate a safe return to their family. And on that note, Mr. Sëaghdha has some words he'd like to share, on behalf of himself, and Ms. Dreux-Brézé and her son's family and loved ones."

"Oh… This is about to go from bad to worse…" Seras had murmured with deep worry apparent in the creased lines between her brows and how tightly her hands were now clasping one another.

Alucard glanced over to his fledgling as Liam traded places with the agent. This was bound to be a veiled declaration of war of some kind, masked as a plea for her return, as the Elder full well knew who had her at this point. "We can handle whatever the Elders attempt, Police Girl."

"Thank you, Special Agent Panagakos, and to all the other members of our country's law enforcement agencies, for your dedication and attention to this matter," Liam said, giving a nod to the agent in mention. "Despite our fear for Mercedes and little Xander, it is a small relief to know that the expertise of such tireless and selfless individuals are working to help us bring them home."

Special Agent Panagakos nodded in acknowledgment of the socialite's words. Liam turned his attention forward, removing his sunglasses to reveal his emerald gaze that was just a shade too bright to be considered natural for those knowing what to look for. He spoke now to the cameras, tone a perfect mix of concern and quiet command.

"As Special Agent Panagakos said, my name is Liam Sëaghdha. I speak on behalf of myself and Mercedes' family; two of whom join us on this upsetting day to help coordinate efforts to have Mercedes and Xander returned to us- the Marquis and Marquise de Brézé, Francis and Annabelle Dreux-Brézé." Liam seemed to take a deep breath to fortify himself, then continued speaking.

"First, we would like to announce that along with the hotlines to report information that could aid in locating Mercedes and Xander and bring them home, we are establishing a reward for that information if it is proven viable and leads to their safe return. That reward will be given in the amount of five million dollars." Liam paused a few seconds as that announcement raised a small murmur from the crowd of reporters and he allowed those watching to absorb what he said.

"There was no mistake in the offer. Should someone come forth with credible information that leads to us finding and retrieving Mercedes and Xander, they can claim a reward of five million dollars. To those holding Mercedes and Xander captive, we implore you to consider your options very carefully. Mercedes is a kind hearted woman who has dedicated her life to service work in her community, to providing a stable and loving environment for her only son, and supporting those fortunate enough to be her friends and family."

Here the vampire's voice became more upset, though Alucard guessed it was a convincing ploy for the masses given the subtle glint in his eyes. Iscariot, after all, was being implicated as the more likely captors, and his words reflected that, as well as heightened the emotional pull on any watching. "Anyone who has known Mercedes to any extent could tell you countless stories of how she inspires others to be better individuals, even when they cannot see their own worth. She sees the good in all and encourages them to embrace that part of themselves. They could tell you stories of how Mercedes sacrifices without a thought to help someone in need of aid, no matter who they are or what their troubles are. She has never, and would never, turn away someone in need because she believes to do so would be the height of immorality, that all are worthy of being saved. They could tell you stories about the lengths Mercedes goes to nurture and protect little Xander, which you yourselves must have some idea of at this point. There is not a more dedicated mother anyone could meet. They could tell you of the compassion and service to charities she has worked with, trying to improve this community, no matter affiliation and beliefs, because she believes we are all children of the divine and worthy of love and empathy."

The marquise was weeping loudly again at the vampire's words and her husband seemed to be half supporting her as he leaned his head down to whisper to her. The agent next to them leant a supportive hand to keep the elderly woman standing.

Liam glanced to them, then back at the cameras, expression faintly pained now. "I know how common it is for a person to be painted as a paragon of virtue when something like this happens, but everything I am telling you now is the truth. While some born to privilege squander that, turn a blind eye to those not in their social sphere, Mercedes willfully forsook her privileges to live among the average person, to understand the lives of people outside her childhood experience. Mercedes forsook all she knew, except when using her privilege of name and connections could further bolster causes she was working with to benefit the community, but never for her own gain. She is a rare soul that genuinely loves those she meets and helps others because it is the right thing to do, not because she hopes to gain somehow from it.

"Whatever ideological differences there may be, whatever differences in how you address the divine itself, surely you can find it within your hearts to recognize that she upholds to values that any could appreciate. We implore you to please look at her, look at her, see her for who she is, for what she does. See her as we see her. She is just one woman, but she is very precious to many people and our grief in not knowing how she is faring after being injured is immense.

"And look at little Xander, please. That little boy is as innocent as innocents come. Xander is a gentle child of five years old who loves drawing and painting and watching Thomas and Friends. A child who dreams of being a Lego architect and inventor, who loves superhero stories and idolizes Captain America above all for being a beacon of values and bravery and compassionate justice. Xander joins his mother for some of her charity work and takes unadulterated joy in helping his mother help others in need. He is a child who likes ice cream on hot days, hot cocoa on cold ones, and spending time with his best friend Felicia; who is worried sick for him and praying right now with her father for Xander to come home safely so they can get back to their swim lessons and her teaching him to roller blade."

Liam gave the appearance of a heavy sigh and closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose with one hand for a second as if to hold of tears. Finally, he dropped his pale hand and looked up, expression resolute. "Their family misses them. Their friends miss them. Their community misses them. And we all need them back. Know that. And know this: we are going to do everything within our power to see them returned. We ask you to please bring them back. If those of you holding them captive call the hotline and negotiate their safe return, we will give you a far more substantial reward than for simply giving information. You have the power to return them, safe and sound, no questions asked and leaving with a reward that could compensate you for much of your losses today. Perhaps you will rethink your course and follow in Mercedes' footsteps of putting what you have towards aiding others. It is not too late to try to do the right thing. But if you make the choice to not return them, if you take our family from us, then understand that our vast resources will instead be turned to bolstering those of the authorities that are capable of hunting you down and ensuring that you cannot ever perpetrate these heinous acts again that tear communities and families apart."

Liam's expression lost its fierce edge then, as he said, "Mercedes, Xander, if you can hear this, know that we are doing everything we can to bring you home where you belong. I would say stay strong, but you are both so strong that it would be patronizing. I could say to keep faith, but you are so full of faith and hope that I would not dare diminish that. So I will only say please remember, a gréine, dá fhada an lá tagann an tráthnóna. Xander, brave little coileáinín, do as your mother tells you, remember how much we love you, and think on what back-to-school movie you want to go see with Felicia when you get home. Our hearts are with you both and we will not rest, we will not stop, until you are found and safely home."

With that Liam ducked his head, slid his glasses back in place as he turned, and walked over to Mercedes' grandparents. A few words with her grandfather and he was replacing the agent in supporting the marquise, helping her husband lead her back inside the mayor's office. Henrick and the lawyer vampire followed close behind. The mayor was stepping forward.

The mayor began to speak on emergency measures the city would be under, the tentative plans with other agencies and organizations to bring the city back to order. Which apparently included large donations in route, courtesy of Fleetwing and Kingston Corporations and the law firm Davin had headed, to help shelter and provide for those whose homes and livelihoods were lost, and funds being set up to pay for the funeral services of those lost.

Alucard hadn't had much chance to listen to all the details the mayor was making about trying to set up those resources, nor discuss details with his servants and how it impacted them, as he received another phone call from Integra.

"You failed to mention the involvement of a French noble's granddaughter and great-grandson in all this, and that they were connected to the bloody upstart American vampires," Integra was nearly yelling, without waiting for him to greet her. "They've just exposed Iscariot on live television, as well as ruined aliases for you, Seras, and Walter." Her voice raised incrementally as her tirade continued, "By the end of this evening, your photos will be plastered all over for the world to see! And if this gets questioned too much, which it undoubtedly will with the Marquis' lawyers levying pressure through the French consulate and American embassy, Hellsing Organization could very well be exposed to American and French authorities for helping grant those aliases!"

"Integra…" Alucard tried to break the knight's rant.

She continued speaking, clearly more disturbed by the moment as all her careful stealthy practices seemed to unravel. "More than a century of covert operations and trying to keep the public ignorant all but went out the window! Minus mentioning vampires directly, or that blasted undead dandy opening up a human's veins in front of the camera, they gave up all of our secrets."

"Integra…" Alucard tried again, an edge to his voice forming.

Integra didn't notice, words spilling out in a rant that would go in the books. "And with their bloody reward offer, every lunatic and conspiracy theorist who has ever heard a whisper of Iscariot or their rivals Hellsing, and therefore know the implications of the Catholics' involvement, will be turning up to cause no end of trouble. Those damned American vampires have lost their bloody minds, forgotten all unspoken truces, and now they're going to drag us all down to Hell with them…"

"Sir Integra Fairbrook Wingates Hellsing!" Alucard snapped out.

Integra's rant paused. A heavy sigh came out, then puffs on a cigar. "Yes, Alucard? Please tell me just what you have to say about this. I have no doubts that the Marquis' granddaughter and great grandson are with you, given that you said you 'rescued' some 'innocent' civilians in need of protection. They need to be returned immediately, and let the Americans and her family keep them safe from Iscariot. We need to extricate from this situation as swiftly and cleanly as possible."

'I swear,' Alucard thought, 'people are trying to drive me to unmitigated violence today…' To Integra, he said, "Yes, Integra, I have Mercedes and Xander in my custody, as well as a guardian for the child, a friend of Mercedes, for the duration his mother is incapacitated. No, I will not be returning them to the Americans' care at this time. Her family would be utterly incapable of protecting her and, despite the public display, some of the American vampires conspired to allow her injury in the first place."

"Pardon?" Intergra asked in disbelief.

"I believe I was clear in what I said," Alucard said. "Liam's ranks have traitors within. And her aging family is utterly incapable of keeping her safe. She was in Iscariot's sights to be destroyed during this engagement, and increased her potential threat to them by aiding me in gaining intel on them. She was ambushed at her home this morning by Anderson and managed to successfully keep him at bay with some gifts of her own, and her swordsmanship caused him a great deal of damage for all the damage he caused her, until I could reach her and engage him.

"I very nearly killed Anderson this morning, but he had new magic-wielding recruits working with his duo of combat nuns. He's going to be down for some time after the injuries he's been dealt. We've seen to it that Mercedes has received medical treatment and we're bringing them to a safe house so she may recover. I'll be attempting to unravel this mess further once they are settled, but it would take me hours to relate all the currently known details to you, so I trust you'll accept the abbreviated version and my judgment on the matter. Unless you'd like the pool of nobles further decreased by their lessers?"

"Of course not!" Integra snapped out. "Even if they're French, it would still be an unconscionable breech of etiquette at the very least." Alucard smirked, he knew her too well. She sighed and there was the flick of a lighter again. Puffs of air, another sigh. "You are certain that she will not be safe left behind in Philadelphia?"

"Quite certain," Alucard said.

"Damn…" More puffs of smoke and he could hear what sounded like pacing. "Well, how safe is this safe house you're absconding to?"

"Safe enough for the short term, but likely not more than a week or two."

"How badly injured was she?"

"Multiple deep lacerations that required stitches, broken ribs, impaled arm from one of Anderson's bayonets. Possible concussion. She's in a shock-induced coma right now, though, so that can't be fully deduced at this time."

"Do they have any thoughts on when she'll wake?"

"Not a specific timeline, no," Alucard said briefly. "They did say she doesn't appear to have brain damage however, and it was simply to cope with the damage done. Barring complications, the thought was she could be asleep for a few days to a week or two."

"Hold old is the child?"

"A precocious five years," Alcuard said with a hint of sarcasm. "Almost reminds me of you at that age."

Integra snorted back a laugh, then puffs on her cigar. Finally she said briskly, "I'll speak with the Round Table and relay to them what you've told me. They may require a deal from you to continue aid in this circumstance, given the uproar being caused, but I may be able to convince them it is not entirely your fault. If I can, I will see what can be done to discretely move you out of The States if you haven't put an end to this by the time she's awake and walking. You will not be able to come back to England with her and the child, however. They can't change their faces as you and your servants do and your identities as British citizens being exposed will make all outgoing flights to here be monitored."

"I'm sure you can think of a creative solution, Integra," Alucard said. "You've always been resourceful when it comes to survival."

Integra huffed a little. "Save your flattery, vampire. I'm far too old to fall for it."

"I was being truthful in confidence expressed," Alucard said matter-of-fact.

"I'm sure… When will you be settled in your safe house?"

"Several more hours. It's a long drive from Philadelphia. Hopefully before dawn."

Integra sighed and he could hear more cigar puffs. "Very well. I am going to get a few hours rest. Call me once you're settled so we can discuss a few more details that may be pertinent, and then I will pass the sum of the information on at the next meeting."

"I'll speak with you then, Integra,"

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The scenery he had watched passing by the van in Connecticut wasn't much different from the scenery he was watching in New Hampshire now. There were more temperate trees in Connecticut; here it was more maples and pines. But similar house styles, similar flowers, same chain stores. All on the side of a long winding road through small towns. They had turned off the interstate again after leaving Boston to avoid toll booths and the cameras they'd have. Couldn't be too careful. They needed at least a few days before moving again; it wouldn't do to be tracked down too quickly.

He needed to get everyone inside the semi-abandoned house, assess its stock of supplies, retrieve whatever was critically in need for the humans. Then it was dragging out of Valarie what she was hiding about the situation. And then another call with Integra to give her a more thorough report so she'd have more to leverage against the Round Table for aid.

'And then I am taking a nap,' Alucard thought testily. 'I hate being awake during the day and I'm not doing it two full days in a row.'

His gaze went down to Mercedes and he said to her telepathically, though she couldn't hear him, "You truly are fortunate I find your life worth preserving, _draga mea_. I don't know what you've omitted telling me, but I have a rather keen guess or two. We'll be having a talk about being misleading when you awaken. Be that as it may, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. You seers like to keep your secrets when you can and I should've listened to my instincts that you were leaving out information somehow.

"Damn woman… You've already cost me aliases, a mansion full of some of my favorite antiques, a rather comfortable plane fit for transporting a Vampire King, and a full day's rest. Not mention, now I not only need to protect you and the child from Iscariot and the Elders to keep my promises, but whatever fools come crawling out of the woodwork to try claiming Liam's reward money should they manage to find us. We are most certainly having a long talk when you wake…" He shook his head, bangs falling across his hellfire eyes.

Seras gave an unhappy whine from where she slouched.

"Something ailing you, Miss Seras?" Walter asked, tone faintly concerned for the younger vampire.

"I just remember that the new book I ordered had finally arrived from backorder while I was gone with the Geese," Seras said with a pout. "It was in the flat with everything else. Now I'll have to wait months again to read it."

Walter shook his head a little, a small smirk forming. "Of all the things you could lament losing, that is the one that upsets you now?"

"Well, I made copies of important documents and family pictures a long time ago, so those are safe and sound thanks to Master's suggestion when I moved out of the mansion," Seras said, still pouting and now slouching more. "Everything else can be replaced. But that book has been sold out for any reasonable price and I was waiting forever to get a copy."

"Two months is hardly forever, Police Girl," Alucard said, dropping his chin to his hand to rest. "If you had preordered it, you would have had it as soon as it was released."

"Yes, well, I got busy and it slipped my mind," Seras said grumpily, crossing her arms. "I finally got it in and now it's blown up. Maybe I'll cave and get the stupid Kindle version after all… Damn those bloody American Vampires. Damn Iscariot. Damn them all. Next time I see one of them, I'm blowing them up with a Harkonnen shell to the arse…"

Alucard gave a puff of breath through his nose in imitation of a sigh as she continued to rant, closed his eyes, and started recalling some of his favorite torture sessions from over the ages to help him keep his patience because he wasn't willing to completely lose his temper with Seras.

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A/n: Hey! I managed another chapter in just a few weeks. I actually wrote most of this shortly after the last chapter, but had to make some changes and debated with myself on how to do so. Then stuff came up and I decided to fix it as best as I could and post so that I didn't leave everyone wait another week or two. So now you've got the recap of important events that took place immediately before and after the last chapter and some insight into part of why Alucard was feeling so pissed before even having to tap into his inner femme fatale.

Next up, Valarie is going to find herself in Alucard's crosshairs and everyone tries to cope with being under the same roof. Any guesses how that goes? It's going to be... interesting. To say the least. I hope.

Any thoughts on the last two chapters? Over a hundred of you read the last one, I'm a bit disappointed no one had any thoughts to share.

Well, I'm off to get some sleep before a busy weekend. Hope everyone enjoys themselves and I will try to get back to writing on Monday, and have an update for the end of the week. Take care!


	37. Chapter 37

Hey folks,

It's been a no good, very bad year.

Financial crisis, forced move because my landlord suddenly spiked our rent well above what I could afford, trying to get back on my feet, a few more deaths in the family since mom, issues with my son's school allowing bullies to torment him, more financial troubles.

My inspiration to write had completely tanked.

Moved back to my home state and in with an old friend to catch my breath, started getting real life things sorted, wrote a few new chapters for fanfics that just needed polishing and several chapters for my original novel…

and then Microsoft 10 decided to do an update on my computer. My fairly new and perfectly good gaming computer. But somehow, that update BRICKED my computer completely. My roommate is an IT guy for a government contractor. Even HE couldn't fix my computer. Whatever the update did, it made my files inaccessible to even all his tools and equipment that can usual recover files. Some of his coworkers he talked to while trying to recover my files said they've been hearing similar stories, or have had it happen to family members of theirs. Beware of Microsoft 10 updates, they are not addressing whatever shitty programming is wrecking computers.

I have lost EVERYTHING. What's on this site is what I have for my fanfics, and some very old copies of my original work that I sent to my sister and preliminary sketches/charts I did by hand is all I have of that project.

It took me awhile to get a replacement computer. And frankly, I'm devastated by the loss of years worth of work. My original project had a fully worked timeline of hundreds of years in a fantasy world, maps, its own language, genealogies, cultural traditions, peculiar flora and fauna that were actually scientifically possible, the works… I have been studying and busting my ass to get it right. And I lost almost all of it.

It has killed my creative side and I'm wondering why bother. For my original work, and for fanfics. And now that I've had a chance to finally sign on to fanfiction, I see that according to the lack of reviews on the last few chapters and low traffic volume for people even reading the last couple updates to my stories before I went poof, it doesn't seem like it'd much matter if I don't finish these stories.

So, I'm tossing in the towel for now. When things get back on track, I might try again with a new story for a fandom if inspiration hits, or I might just concentrate on my original works and trying to rebuild that series. I honestly don't know right now.

I just figured I'd give an explanation to the few people who did shoot me private messages, asking when I'd return. Sorry for not replying directly, I didn't want to make multiple explanations.

Take care, and I hope you enjoy the many other creative and fun fics being put out on the site. There's some amazing authors out there, so be sure to show them some appreciation.

SoI


	38. Insurrection And Inspiration

Hey folks.

.

.

apologies in advance if this contains a bunch of typos, but I was drinking with my sisters this evening (anniversaries of deaths in family suck, so don't judge, I don't drink often) and I'm a bit buzzed right now. I've been busy with all the real life stuff I mentioned, but I've been getting sporadic email updates pinging my phone for reviews, and more frequently for PMs since my official hiatus announcement on all stories two weeks ago.

I honestly did not expect responses from more than a couple people in total between my three stories. Hearing from people as much as I did made me feel a small spark of happiness that perhaps I hadn't been wasting my time, and yours, with these stories. thank you for that. I mean it.

I've also gotten some random hate guest reviews I didn't allow to be posted, and a couple PMs of that nature. a few who admit they only read first chapter intros & are pissed I'm sticking to canons, so they wanted to flame no instead of finding a different story to their liking. to them, I say, "fuck you". If I don't keep characters in canon, I'm basically stealing names of characters for an original work & it stops being fanfic and becomes shitty plagiarism. Not. Doing. That.

And a handful were sicced on me because after leaving many positive reviews for an author in a fandom I do not write for, I left some constructive criticism because she took a break from writing, came back, and suddenly her characters did an about face and mangled the continuity established within the story to drastically reflect her new life views. it was jarring. it sucked to have sprung on us. And i was as polite as possible in asking her to consider how it plays out from a practical & literature stand point. but she was pissed. she's been fuming for months apparently, and she's been stalking my work apparently. she saw my last update & decided to take her revenge by siccing her fan base on me while I was down. I got a flood of PMs insulting my work, and worse, insulting me. some going so far as telling me to kill myself. so to her and them, I say, "you're a bunch of cowardly, thin skinned, tribalistic, rotting cunts. however, I hope you'll get professional help and become useful members of society someday." Cheers!

... anyway...

I was going over my stories. I don't have a spark of inspiration quite yet, but I feel like maybe I might be able to find one with some help.

So I'm enlisting each and every one of you reading this. that's right. you, in Poland. And you in Romania. And you folks in UK, USA, Russia, Pakistan, Germany, Belgium, Portugal, Hungary, Thailand, France, Estonia, Italy, Australia, Netherlands, Slovenia, and every other country showing up on my handy dandy page for who's been reading my stories beyond the first chapter in the last few weeks.

Every single one of you.

Loyal readers of the last few years & new additions who ate up those chapters.

I am asking for your help if you want me to continue these stories and give them a rewarding end.

Show some love. But more importantly, give me some in depth feedback. tell me what you love about whichever story you've been reading - what makes you laugh, what plot points keep you coming back for more, what unresolved issues you want answered, what characters you want more of, what literary devices I use that you would like continued or reigned in, etc.

I'm struggling with sparking back up the stories I had so strongly plotted in my head, I've lost that literary magic for the moment, but I'm seeing the stories through less fatalistic eyes than before. I see potential. So I'm asking you to participate in the process a little so we can maybe all have a satisfying conclusion, instead of leaving these stories unfinished or half assed wrapped up.

I realize some won't be arsed to reply... but given the last round of dismayed and sympathetic responses, I think many of you feel more invested in these stories than I realized. so, I don't feel it's inappropriate to ask for a bit more substantive feedback in general, without putting any of you individually on the spot, to get us to a conclusion worthy of the start. I'm shifting a small part of the weight of this continuing to you folks. if you have guesses on where I'm going that might be spoilers and opinions one way or other, send me a PM, not a review, so as not to leave potential spoilers for the other readers. otherwise feel free to turn reviews into a running debate or dialogue with one another to give me some consensus on what people are wanting/hoping for. Get me a more solid idea of what would be welcome, give me some lended inspiration, and I will sit back down and do my best to get these stories properly written.

yours,

SoI

p.s. pull off getting me inspired to write again, and I may change my handle from Sound Of Insurrection to a more upbeat Sound Of Inspiration in honor of all of you. or maybe that'll seem corny when I'm sober and I won't. idk. It's 2am, I should go to bed. night night everyone.


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